Thread by @EvanBlake17

🧵Today marks 1 year since the WHO designated #Omicron a Variant of Concern. This most infectious and immune-resistant variant was seized upon to scrap all remaining mitigation measures and normalize the pandemic globally. #CovidIsntOver #BringBackMasks 1/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

Over the past year, billions of people have been infected globally. Officially, 1.4 million people have been killed by #Omicron, but excess death estimates place the real global death toll over the past year at 5.2 million, or 1/4 of all #COVID deaths. 2/ economist.com/graphic-detail…

Excess deaths are now elevated everywhere, a reflection of the horrific toll of #LongCovid and the reverberations of the mass infection policies implemented by nearly every capitalist government in response to Omicron. 3/

https://twitter.com/CrabbBrendan/status/1596253183302828032

Omicron was seized upon to curtail data collection/reporting across the US and internationally. 38 states have switched to weekly reporting of cases and deaths, while Nebraska, North Dakota & D.C. have stopped reporting deaths altogether. #CovidCoverUp 4/
coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/state-rep…

Wastewater is the only reliable metric for COVID infections in the US, but is itself severely underfunded and inadequate. The dismantling of testing and data reporting were done consciously, to bolster Biden's lie that "the pandemic is over." 5/
biobot.io/data/

The experiences of the past year & the entire pandemic make clear that capitalism is incompatible with the social interests of the working class. Workers have been compelled to labor in deadly conditions as billionaires have amassed unfathomable wealth. 6/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

The @SEP_US & @WSWS_Updates are the only political tendency and outlet which have warned of the ongoing dangers of the pandemic and exposed all the lies told about Omicron, including that it is "mild" and a "live-virus vaccine" to make COVID "endemic." 7/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

Here is our first statement after the Omicron variant made headlines one year ago. As with all of our coverage on the pandemic, it is rooted in a scientific, objective, Marxist analysis and is extraordinarily prescient. 8/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

The following day, we warned, "The emergence of the Omicron variant demonstrates that those in power will continue to let the virus infect masses of people and mutate until the whole Greek alphabet has been used up." 9/
wsws.org/en/articles/20…

On December 1, 2021, @jkishore and @DavidNorthWSWS noted that Biden's vaccine-only strategy "is a pragmatically simplistic and individualistic approach that does not require a broad-based and coordinated social response to the pandemic." 10/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

On December 10, the @SEP_US published this major statement on Omicron, presenting a clear program for the working class to fight to stop the deepening surge. 11/
wsws.org/en/articles/20…

On December 20, 2021, @Andre__Damon exposed the lies of Kamala Harris that Omicron was unforeseeable. In fact, scientists & the WSWS had warned continuously that new variants would evolve unless a #ZeroCovid strategy was adopted globally. 12/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

On December 30, 2021, the @SEP_US penned this direct and clear letter to the international working class, stressing the dangers they confronted and what must be done to stop the pandemic. 13/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

4 days later, we published our 2022 New Year statement by @DavidNorthWSWS and @jkishore, which situates the pandemic in its broader historical context. This is among the most essential documents published anywhere on the #COVID19 pandemic. 14/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

On January 10, 2022, we commented on the increasingly eugenicist conceptions advanced by CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, who stated that the fact that COVID-19 predominantly kills people who are “unwell to begin with” is “encouraging news.” 15/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

The most significant sign of opposition to the ruling elites' homicidal response to Omicron was a series of international school strikes throughout January 2022, which only the WSWS seriously covered. 16/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

In response to this building opposition, capitalist governments moved to cover up all critical information on the pandemic. The WSWS has systematically exposed this propaganda and disinformation campaign. 17/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

The Biden administration also ratcheted up its drive to war with Russia, which finally broke out with the invasion of Ukraine in late February. In opposition to this, the WSWS stressed that "The war that must be waged is the war on COVID-19." 18/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

As scientists and the WSWS had warned, the infection of billions of people with Omicron provided #SARS2 with ample hosts in which it could evolve into furhter variants. By early March, Omicron #BA2 began to surge globally. 19/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

The only country which maintained a #ZeroCovid elimination strategy in response to Omicron was China, which mounted an all-out effort to stop an outbreak in Shanghai. The WSWS commended these efforts while stressing that they must be expanded globally. 20/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

Amid the lockdown of Shanghai, the US surpassed the milestone of 1 million official COVID deaths, which was met with near total silence from Biden and the corporate media. 21/
wsws.org/en/articles/20…

Last summer also saw the beginning of a global movement of healthcare workers against increasingly intolerable working conditions and attempts to victimize them for problems caused by under-staffing and profit-driven care. 22/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

Continuing to follow the most principled scientists, the WSWS warned of the ongoing dangers posed by the pandemic. We published multiple statements on the threats of further viral evolution and the emergence of Omicron #BA4 and #BA5. 23/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

We also covered the mounting crisis of the airline industry after the Biden administration allowed the lifting of the mask mandate on flights and public transit. 24/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

In July 2022, the WSWS produced this video, which succinctly outlines the ongoing dangers posed by #COVID and what must be done to stop the pandemic globally. #CovidIsAirborne 25/

https://twitter.com/EvanBlake17/status/1545371778549252097

The WSWS wrote this critical perspective on July 13, 2022, as more reports emerged on #LongCovid, the evolution of new #Omicron variants, and the dangers of #BA5. 26/
wsws.org/en/articles/20…

In late July, Biden's infection was used to further normalize the pandemic and adopt the "forever COVID" strategy. Karine Jean-Pierre stated, "everyone is going to get COVID," while Ashish Jha said bluntly, “This virus is going to be with us forever.” 27/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

At this same time, the @SEP_US hosted its 7th National Congress, which unanimously adopted this resolution on the pandemic. It is a powerful antithesis to the lies and criminal pandemic policies of the American ruling class. 28/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

I gave this report to the Congress to motivate the adoption of the resolution. It situates the pandemic historically, and connects the SEP's fight against COVID-19 to the long history of the socialist struggle to expand public health. 29/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

Throughout 2022, we have opposed every reactionary change in CDC guidelines, which amount to the scrapping of all mitigation measures. @EArceneaux3 wrote this powerful perspective on August 12, summarizing this process and its implications. 30/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

On August 22, the SEP issued this comprehensive statement on the dangers of reopening schools amid the complete lifting of mitigation measures. The crisis in pediatric hospitals has qualitatively deepened in the 2 months since this was published. 31/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

Last month, I wrote this WSWS perspective on the evolution of the Omicron "variant soup" and the potential for a massive surge of infections, reinfectionss, deaths, and #LongCovid this fall/winter. 32/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

Last month, we published this perspective on the growing crisis in US pediatric hospitals, exposing the lies about children owing an "immunity debt" and calling for a socialist public health response to eliminate RSV, the flu & COVID globally. 33/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

On Nov. 10, @BenjaminMateus7 and I wrote this article on the COVID reinfections study led by @zalaly. This study is among the most important to date on the pandemic, exposing the reality of the "forever COVID" policy implemented in response to Omicron. 34/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

Most recently, the impacts of Omicron have found expression in a shift away from #ZeroCovid in China. Last week, the WSWS warned of the immense dangers this poses to the Chinese and international working class. 35/
wsws.org/en/articles/20…

The articles presented above are a tiny fraction of the 1,000+ published by the WSWS on the pandemic over the past year and the 6,000+ since early 2020. This record is unparalleled. No other political tendency takes the pandemic seriously. 36/
wsws.org/endcovid

In September, we published Volume 1 of “COVID, Capitalism, and Class War: A Social and Political Chronology of the Pandemic,” which presents our most essential statements and articles from 2020. This is the Introduction to the book. 37/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

Volumes 2 and 3, presenting our most essential coverage from 2021 and 2022, respectively, will be published in the coming months. There is no better resource to understand the development of the pandemic, and its political and social significance. 38/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

As we state in the Introduction to the book, "Contrary to the lies of capitalist politicians and the media, the COVID-19 pandemic is not over. The future course that the pandemic will take remains to be seen." 39/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"However, after 3 years, it should be readily apparent that neither the pandemic, nor any of the other dangers confronting humanity, will be resolved under the auspices of world capitalism." 40/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

"Our aim is to develop a global mass movement, based on the working class and drawing support from all progressive sections of humanity, to put an end not only to the pandemic but to all the manifestations of social suffering produced by capitalism." 41/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…

As we reflect on the past year, the horrific response to Omicron, and the growing dangers faced by #COVID, nuclear war & climate change, it is necessary to draw political conclusions. Join & support the SEP, and take up the fight for world socialism! 42/42 wsws.org/join