"The pandemic is over" was literally always a PR thing, not a public health thing.
Impact Research is a polling and PR consulting firm that proudly boasts of having Joe Biden as one of their clients.
On February 24, 2022 they sent a memo to "interested parties" in the white house titled "Taking the Win over COVID-19."
In it, they encourage the democratic party to "take credit" for ending "the crisis phase" of the pandemic, and laying out some "strategic thoughts" to do so effectively:
- "...push for feeling and acting more normal"
- "Recognize people are feeling "worn out" and feeling real harm from years-long restrictions and take their side." (They justify this one with polls and statistics about how people have "personally moved out of crisis mode" and how most voters are worried about the economy than getting covid) "The more we talk about the threat of COVID... the more we turn them against us and show them we're out of touch with their daily lives."
- "Don't set COVID Zero as a victory condition... 83% [of Americans] think the pandemic will be over when it's a mild illness like the flu..."
- "...If we talk about how bad things still are and how much worse they could get, we set Democrats up as failures unable to navigate us through this."
Notice how the focus is always on what "Americans" feel like and how to get their fucking votes. Zero mention on the actual reality of covid, what it's actually like, how it actually affects people and how much transmission there is.
Read the whole memo, it's two pages. Tell me if you recognize some of that framing and talking points in the wild.
Oh, btw: January and February 2022 were the worst months of the pandemic, by number of cases. Remember the Omicron wave? It was that one. But hey, people were already over it and it's not like governing is about anything except getting votes in the next election.
Wear a mask, the only reason they told you to stop was to get a better photo-op. Your life and bodily autonomy should be worth more than their polling numbers.
