PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS: Oh, Now The Atlantic Decrees Americans Are Paranoid about Catching Covid.

If you’re worried about Covid-19, then there’s an excellent chance that at least once over the past two years, either you’ve read an article or someone has sent you an article about the pandemic from The Atlantic magazine. Day after day, week after week, that publication offers at least one article or personal essay that warns you that, as bad as things may seem, they’re actually much worse and will probably get even worse tomorrow, all with a headline perfectly calibrated to go viral, no pun intended, among the most Covid-concerned: “Georgia’s Experiment in Human Sacrifice.” “We Know Enough About Omicron to Know That We’re in Trouble.” “Covid Is Not Endemic Yet — And May Not Be for a Long Time.” “You Can Get COVID and the Flu at the Same Time.” “America Can’t Beat Omicron One Booster at a Time.”

The only thing that scares the staff of The Atlantic magazine more than Covid-19 is Kevin D. Williamson.

And now, seemingly out of nowhere, The Atlantic runs an essay by Benjamin Mazer, a physician specializing in laboratory medicine, headlined with the imperative, “Stop Wasting COVID Tests, People”:

It’s quite a pivot, from when COVID was seen as something only those icky Red State voters get: Let Omicron Spell the End of the Pandemic—and the Covid Shaming: “If only blue state liberals could acknowledge the truth: that no one should feel guilt or shame for getting a highly infectious disease. After all, we don’t shame people for getting chickenpox or seasonal influenza or any number of other highly contagious respiratory viruses or diseases. It’s something many liberals actually know in other contexts; they would never shame someone for getting an illness that is even related to their behavior, like obesity, alcoholism and some forms of diabetes. Why is this a thing with COVID?”