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--:-- John Bickley: After another year dominated by COVID-19, 2022 has finally arrived. And with it, a significant shift in the messaging from Dr. Fauci, the CDC, and President Biden on the handling of the virus. Look, there is no federal solution. This gets solved at a state level. What's driving this major messaging change, science or politics? I'm John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, January 3rd, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Were you one of the holiday travelers stuck in the airport due to thousands of canceled flights? We'll tell you what's behind the cancellations and what airlines are doing about it. We know definitively that spikes in COVID cases are causing these delays and cancellations. And the latest on Omicron and Delta, including cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire, and we hope you're as excited about the new year as we are. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. This show is sponsored by Birch Gold Group. Inflation is destroying the dollar. Birch Gold Group can help protect your IRA or 401k with a precious metals IRA. Text WIRE to 989898 to claim a free info kit on physical gold and silver. There's zero obligation. Text the word WIRE to 989898 to protect your savings today.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As COVID cases surge nationwide, the White House has adopted new messaging on the virus. Here with more on how President Biden and his COVID task force are responding to the explosion of new cases is Daily Wire's Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So Cabot, first, tell us about the surge and then how the messaging out of Washington has changed. So on Thursday, as the new highly contagious Omicron variant continued to spread, the U.S. reported over 355,000 new daily cases that shattered the previous record that was set on Wednesday. And then Wednesday broke the record that had been set Tuesday. So bottom line, the virus is more prevalent now than ever, despite the past year and a half of lockdowns and vaccines.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But President Biden responded last week by basically saying it wasn't his fault. Despite campaigning on the promise to, quote, shut down the virus if elected, he told a group of governors last week that, quote, this gets solved at the state level. So admitting the federal government can't solve the problem, that's quite the messaging shift from the president.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Exactly. Another aspect that he shifted on has just been his view of the overall case count itself. Over the past year, he's consistently referred to the total number of positive cases when talking about the pandemic. But last week, as cases skyrocketed, he really changed that tune and said the real way to judge how bad an outbreak was in a particular area was by looking at hospitalization rates, not case counts.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, many Republican leaders said those comments were hypocritical because Biden had criticized them in the past for saying basically the exact same thing, that states should be in control and that hospitalizations, not cases, are most important. They also pointed out how while campaigning when Trump was in office, Biden promised a federal solution. And when the COVID death toll hit 220 under Trump he had this to say Anyone who responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of America It is worth noting the COVID death toll under President Biden is now well over 400
--:-- Cabot Phillips: We've also seen a shifting message from Dr. Fauci over the last week. What can you tell us there? Well, obviously, throughout the pandemic, Dr. Fauci has played a crucial role in pushing mandatory lockdowns and mask mandates. But just in the last two weeks, he started to reverse course a bit. For example, he told MSNBC last week that renewed lockdowns weren't feasible because, and I'm quoting here, we're trying to have a good balance of preserving and protecting the public health. At the same time, we don't have to have the draconian decision of shutting down the country.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, obviously, that's quite different from the message he had last year. Then when Omicron proved to be less serious than the Delta variant, Dr. Fauci said it was because of the strength of natural immunity for many Americans. Again, that was very different from what he and the CDC had been publicly saying throughout the year.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, tell us about the CDC. There have been some big changes there as well, right? Big changes, definitely. So they've been saying throughout the pandemic that anyone who tests positive, remember, including those who are asymptomatic, should isolate themselves for 10 days. But last week, the CDC lowered that to just five days for asymptomatic cases. Director Rochelle Walensky admitted to CNN that those guidelines weren't necessarily based on science, but instead, quote, really had a lot to do with what we thought people would be able to tolerate.
--:-- Georgia Howe: They've also revised their stance on masks, specifically cloth masks, saying that they're largely ineffective after all. So going back big picture here, do we know why we're seeing this shift take place now? Well, as always, it depends on who you ask. The president and Dr. Fauci suggest it's because we have more data on COVID now, and we also know that Omicron is much less dangerous than past variants. But others say the shift has more to do with politics and lockdown fatigue from average Americans.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The political angle here is that the midterm elections are approaching. And it's no secret. Democrats know that lockdowns are deeply unpopular at this point in the pandemic. And that if businesses and schools start shutting down again and the economy takes a hit, it will impact their chances of re-election. So you got to take into account the potential for political side here as well. It's always there.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Cabot, thanks for the time. Absolutely. That's Daily Wire's Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Coming up, thousands of flights across the U.S. are being canceled. You can get this show and all of the content you love wherever you are, all on the Daily Wire app. Even if you're not a Daily Wire member, you'll be the first to know what's trending with mobile notifications for the latest news, and you'll get content from all your favorite Daily Wire shows. Download the Daily Wire app and keep up with the facts no matter where your day takes you.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Holiday flight cancellations in the United States, aptly dubbed the Christmas flight mare, have continued into the new year. Over the weekend, more than 4,000 flights were canceled across the country and thousands more worldwide. Georgia, we've been watching all the airline problems over the last few months, and things have really escalated here.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. What's going on with all these flight cancellations? Well, the short answer here is winter weather, specifically a New Year's Day snowstorm in Chicago. Plus, a lot of airline workers are calling off due to COVID. So whether that's illness or just a positive test result. The hardest hit city was Chicago. That's the home of O'Hare International Airport, which is the second busiest airport in the country.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So over the weekend, a full 25% of flights out of O'Hare were canceled. So like I mentioned, we've seen a lot of reports of severe staff shortages at multiple airlines due to increased positive cases of COVID-19. Ironically, this is exactly what airlines were hoping to avoid when they implemented vaccine mandates just a few months ago.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right A few months ago we heard a lot about the pandemic of the unvaccinated Is that out the window now Yeah we really haven't heard that term in a while
--:-- Georgia Howe: When it comes to confirmed Omicron cases including those among airline workers the majority are occurring in fully vaccinated individuals. And that detail is actually referenced in an internal memo from Delta Airlines. And Delta, just so you know, also has reported 90 plus percent vaccination rate. United Airlines, which has a vaccination rate of more than 99 percent, is also reporting extreme staffing shortages due to COVID-19 illness, as are several other airlines.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We talked to Jason Kunish about all of this. He's the co-founder of U.S. Freedom Flyers and a pilot for a major airline. Not only is Omicron making more vaccinated employees sick versus the unvaccinated, but putting those unvaccinated employees on the street without pay means the airline doesn't have much wiggle room when their schedules start to fall apart.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So if vaccination hasn't been enough to stop the spread of COVID, what's the plan for airlines going forward? Well, at this point, they're just trying to squeeze as much as possible out of their last remaining employees. According to a memo from United Airlines, pilots are now being offered triple pay or more to pick up extra flights for the rest of January. And Spirit Airlines is paying flight attendants double their salary. So their solution thus far is to pay employees more.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. As for the rest of us, it sounds like we just need to plan to be flexible with travel over the next few weeks. Exactly.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Georgia, thanks for the reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: With all the chaos at the airports and controversy over changing COVID policies, how much do we really need to fear Omicron, the milder variant that's driving the surge in cases? Joining us to discuss all the latest on the variant is Dr. Human Himadi, a physician and pharmaceutical entrepreneur.
--:-- Dr. Human Himadi: Thanks for joining us. So what does the data tell us? Is Omicron now the dominant variant or is it still Delta? So it's interesting that you ask. A couple of weeks ago, the CDC came out and said that very quickly, the Omicron variant became 73% of all the COVID infections in the country. But then a week or so later, they backtracked on that. So the latest we have is that it was somewhere around 30 to 50, maybe 70%. At this point, I would suspect it's dramatically higher, given how rapidly it spreads and given how it's been displacing the Delta variant.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We've seen reports of a lot of vaccinated people getting Omicron. Is it more common with the vaccinated or unvaccinated? So it's looking like the Omicron variant is what you call an escape variant. So it is evading the immunity that's been built up by the vaccines and built up to previous infections, whether it's from the Delta variant or others. So as a result, what's happening is you're getting almost everyone susceptible to infection, whether vaccinated or not.
--:-- Georgia Howe: There was a report this week which shows that immune response after Omicron infection is highly protective against the Delta variant. Can you explain that study and what it can mean for the future of COVID? Absolutely. So there was an international consortium that studied the immune responses of a certain number of patients who were infected with the Omicron variant, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, coming out of South Africa, where this variant was initially detected.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what they did is they took different viruses, whether it was Omicron virus or the Delta variant, and then tested the plasma of those patients, which is the blood, the part of the blood that contains the antibodies, and tested it to see can they neutralize these different variants. And what they found is that there was a profound immune reaction against the Omicron variant, which is not surprising. But what they also found is that there was a substantial reaction to the Delta variant. And so the antibodies the neutralizing antibodies from patients who were infected with the Omicron variant were actually able to neutralize or stop the Delta variant as well So it goes one way, but not the other.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So that could be good news. We've seen that hospitalizations are up 30 percent, but deaths are actually down 4 percent. I guess the question here is, how much do we really need to worry about Omicron? While the death numbers have gone down to a substantial degree, and it's in fact disproportionate to the substantial increase in the infection and hospitalization count, we can't say for certain quite yet that this is not going to be a deadly virus. But within the U.S. population, which has its own age demographics as well as vaccination rates, it's a little too soon to say that with absolute scientific certainty.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What about the federal response? Given the information we have now, should the Biden administration make any changes to its approach? Absolutely. So I think the administration has been doing a lot of the same lately. And what I mean by that is they've had the same group of advisors, Dr. Fauci, Dr. Walensky and a handful of others, really in charge of making the decisions. and they've had a lot of input from folks who they're loyal to or they're close to, including unions and other sorts of organizations, political groups.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I think what really the president needs to do is to come outside of his comfort zone a little bit, broaden his circle of advisors, include people who disagree, include people who have alternative viewpoints, include folks who suggest doing other things, whether that be with respect to public health measures like distancing, like masking, and really take a different angle toward managing the pandemic than we've had already.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Because what's happening is I think the public is experiencing a great deal of fatigue right now. And that fatigue is resulting in people sometimes disobeying these rules, in fact, trying to do the counter. And I think if the president were to simply expand his pool of advisors, bring in fresh ideas and fresh faces and bring in people who, again, have disagreed historically with his administration's management, we may see some changes occurring as well.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, Dr. Hamadi, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Dr. Human Hamadi. Other stories we're tracking this week. After facing cancellation at the beginning of the year for a video showing him using a racial slur, country music star Morgan Wallen is now sitting atop the music world, closing out 2021 with the number one selling album and a chart-topping hip-hop song with rapper Lil Durk, Broadway Girls.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In response to the video leaked in February, Wallen's record label suspended him. iHeartMedia, Pandora, SiriusXM, and CMT pulled his songs from their platforms. and the Country Music Awards refused to invite him despite being nominated for Best New Album. And Twitter has permanently suspended the personal account of U.S. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. Twitter confirmed the suspension in a statement Sunday claiming that she was permanently banned due to spreading, quote, misinformation about COVID-19.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If you liked this episode and are interested in hearing more, subscribe to Morning Wire on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening, and give us a five-star review. That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
