THE COVID HYSTERICS’ BLEAK MIDWINTER:

The ancients had a word for it, winter, and it’s eliciting trembles of horror from the Cassandras over at the New York Times. New Yorkers, the Times recently croaked, “are living not just among the coronavirus and its seemingly endless variants, but a bunch of other viruses too.” This “bunch” includes such baffling ailments as the common cold and the flu. One man interviewed by the Times “has been walking around town with a stuffy nose and a mysterious cough that keeps clattering in his lungs.”

Why any of this would suddenly happen just as the weather is getting cold remains a medical mystery. Yet thankfully the Times has a theory:

Although city officials have been recommending that New Yorkers wear masks in indoor public spaces, few are heeding that call. School attendance remains relatively high too, though it dipped a little recently. Restaurants and coffee shops are busy, and offices show no signs of closing. People are still going out to movies, music venues and cocktail bars.

Cocktail bars. The unmitigated gall of people thinking they can just go to cocktail bars is enough to make you think we don’t deserve Dr. Fauci. Yet surely it’s no surprise that the Times is struggling with this. For everyone else, this is set to be a season of joy and gratitude. Not only is it almost Christmas, it’s the first winter since 2019 when Covid isn’t an issue, and for those of us who caught the Omicron last winter, it couldn’t be more welcome. No canceled holiday parties; no wondering what the eggnog really tastes like. And unlike Europeans, we Americans didn’t foolishly shut down our nuclear plants and gas storage facilities, making us reliant on Russian exports. Heating this year might be expensive but it’s still on and running.

Flashback: Ignoring Them Is the Only Way Out.