Thread by @DavidNorthWSWS

This two part interview with Yaneer Bar-Yam should be read carefully. He presents a devastating refutation of the claim that #Covid_19 has become a mild and endemic disease with which society can easily "live with." Here are a few critical excerpts: 1/
wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"We are being told that we must live with the virus because it’s 'endemic,' whatever that means—a term which people are confused by...The narrative is also claiming that it’s going to remain mild. But we know that it’s not mild." 2/

"The business interests that have been driving the government response to the pandemic are trying to obscure the danger...There's no doubt that the governments could and should be tracking #Omicron and its subvariants like BA.2 because we know that it can be more severe." 3/

"As a fundamental statement, the continuous reintroduction of new variants into society undermines population immunity from vaccines and prior infections. We know that’s been happening. There’s no reason to believe that will stop." 4/

"Because of prior infections, the risk of major cardiac events with subsequent infections will climb because of the impact of the infection. And we haven’t even talked about the fact that there’s harm to the immune system so that it makes you even more vulnerable." 5/

"Today we have a huge number of Long COVID suffers, but most of the long COVID from the recent Omicron peak hasn’t even shown up yet. It's just starting to be observed. And the care that is needed for these millions of people...is way outside the capacity of the health system. 6/

"There has been a huge push by the commercial press to normalize the circumstances...The New York Times has consistently published articles that talk about how much risk you should take and their statement about risks is really focused on one event, which is very deceiving." 7/

"And unfortunately, today, the people who are in government are not concerned about the health of others even if they're concerned about their own health." 8/8