In a world where every headline tells of impeding doom and each crisis strips away the freedoms of the masses…

Seriously, every news report is beginning to sound like a movie trailer – only without the surround sound and with a lot more fear. Sigh…

In a surprise to absolutely no one who has even a passing familiarity with disease control or who hasn’t been living under a rock the past two years, there’s a new COVID in town! Bigger, stronger, able to leap capital T in a single bound… Oh, wait, that’s Letterman from The Electric Company.

Okay, okay, being serious – we’re discriminating against South Africans now with a travel ban. No, really – it was announced and everything. But don’t worry – it doesn’t go into effect until Monday so all the folks who spent Thanksgiving in Africa can get back in the US, no problem. That’ll keep the virus out, yesirree.

Oh, and the Dow Jones fell 800 points because this will mean another round of panicked politicians instituting idiotic and destructive policies that will undoubtedly further cripple an already badly wounded economy. But we’re saving lives, right?

Right?

No, not really. The tiny number of cases actually prevented are dwarfed by the deaths from unintended consequences. What’s actually turning the tide is the steady but determined use of effective treatments. These aren’t cures – but an effective treatment, like a cure, can make a patient less infectious and can greatly improve their chances of survival against actual serious cases.

Remember the good old days when vaccines actually prevented the spread of disease – and our fearless leaders didn’t panic the instant anyone sneezed?

If you actually need the disclaimer that yes, C19 is extremely dangerous to a very tiny proportion of the population and that those who are vulnerable should discuss vaccination with their doctors, you, Dear Reader, are missing the forest for the trees. Heart disease remains the number one killer of Americans – C19 isn’t even in the top ten on its own (it is only because its counted along with respiratory illness) – can we stop panicking now?

The World Health Organization just gave the new variant its own, ominous sounding, name – so I guess the answer is no, we can’t stop panicking yet.

But we should.