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Reading the tea leaves of public fatigue over lockdowns and mask mandates, Texas Governor Gregg Abbott pivoted last week, calling for his state to fully re-open. Other states including Mississippi, Arkansas, and Alabama quickly followed up with similar announcements.
But CNN quickly attacked. During a 4 March segment on their afternoon “Newsroom” covering Johnson & Johnson’s newly-approved COVID vaccine, they spotlighted voices apparently advocating quasi-permanent lockdowns, based on fears of new COVID variants and lack of sufficient vaccines.
“This is a scary virus and we already know that. We underestimate it at our peril,” said Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo of the Birmingham School of Medicine at the University of Alabama.
Reporter Nick Watt’s voice-over intoned about the possibility of mutated viruses infecting people who survived the original COVID-19 strain:
“Study of a surge in Manaus late last year found the variant first identified in Brazil was likely to blame and could more easily re-infect people who’ve already been infected. The research is not yet published.”
And a clip of Dr. Ashish Jha, Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, chimed in, “Variants are starting to take over and if they become dominant and we relax restrictions, I think we can absolutely see a huge spike.”
CNN juxtaposed the warnings with Governor Abbott’s pronouncement, “It is now time to open Texas 100 percent.”
The reporter’s voice-over ominously explained, “And one week from tomorrow, the mask mandate will end, and every business can reopen, no restrictions.”
TRENDPOST: Typically, CNN’s reporting contained zero information on the disastrous economic, educational, social, and health consequences of the lockdowns. They also failed to note that strict lockdown states including New York and California have fared no better overall during the COVID saga of the past year than states such as Florida and South Dakota, which governed with a much lighter hand.