OF THE
TIMES
"the best protection against this variant or any of the variants out there, ones we've been dealing with already, is getting fully vaccinated and getting a booster shot."Asked about the possibility of a lockdown, the US president said "there's no need" for one, but cautioned that his administration is still reviewing the data about the latest variant of concern. He said there won't be a new lockdown, but a push for "more widespread vaccinations, boosters, testing, and more!" A detailed strategy will be announced on Thursday.



As a recent Nature journal piece notes, COVID-19 lockdowns have prepared people for "personal carbon allowances." Restrictions on individual freedoms "that were unthinkable only one year before" have us "more prepared to accept the tracking and limitations" to "achieve a safer climate," the piece notes.
And many self-professed defenders of our "democracy" have been clamoring for the Department of Health and Human Services to take unilateral action and treat climate as a "public health issue" or to declare a "climate emergency." The White House has given the issue a required identity-based twist, noting that global warming's risks "disproportionately affect poor and minority communities." (Which reminds me of P.J. O'Rourke's old joke about NPR coverage: "World To End — Poor and Minorities Hardest-Hit.")
Americans experienced the authoritarian reach of government during the pandemic. We see what normalizing those ideas can look like in Australia.

Comment: More lawsuits, please!