This is the big one. Ever since the upset in the Virginia governor's race, the Democrats have been very eager to end COVID restrictions no matter what. The Republicans have never cared about COVID so, at the moment there's a rare bipartisan unity on this issue.
Do you think the Omicron wave might have had more to do with the COVID restrictions than the VA governor's race?
I don't.
The case numbers in many, if not most areas, are still higher than they were during the delta wave in the Summer and Fall that led to the lockdowns and restrictions being implemented in the first place.
If this were truly just about the data then you'd expect the restrictions to lift once the case counts returned to pre-delta numbers.
Edit/Clarification: I say this as someone is/was generally been in favor of a very cautious response to COVID.
Also sure its 4+months after the VA governors race but here in LA the mayoral election is up and its hot. So is the DA race...which honestly...how many voters can tell me what the DA even does outside of their exposure to law and order?
Sheer numbers of cases and deaths don't reflect the need to drop vigilance, esp to a level where no one wears masks regardless of vaccination status. Our president just announced months ago (over the holidays) that people who were unvaxxed were likely to die with a press release the equivalent of a :shrug: emoji.
This is definitely due to the wind down of the omicron cases but chance and luck is what will keep us from another wave, not droppings masks and having no vaccination mandates or having them sector by sector driven by industry.
