There is much we do not yet know about Omicron, the new COVID variant that has some Canadian officials inadvisably panicking. But here’s what we do know: lockdowns are exceedingly harmful to the general public — psychologically, economically, socially and even physically. They should not even be considered. Any advice for governments to shutter businesses or schools as a means to controlling the spread of the virus should be ignored, full stop.
Whatever justifications there might have been for draconian restrictions during earlier waves of the pandemic when we knew little about the virus, no longer apply. Twenty-one months into this endless, waking nightmare, the greater threat is to our civil liberties and mental health. Whatever Omicron’s severity, there’s no getting around the reality that the virus will continue to mutate and that we will have to learn to live with COVID. It’s long past time governments stop reflexively leaning on intrusive health restrictions.
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