CDC leaves Americans to 'figure it out yourself' during omicron surge, NYT columnist says

Published January 6, 2022 at 1:40 PM EST

Facebook
LinkedIn
Email

A medical technician performs a nasal swab test on a cyclist queued up in a line with motorists at a COVID-19 testing site near All City Stadium Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021, in southeast Denver. (David Zalubowski/AP)

Like many stories, New York Times Opinion columnist Zeynep Tufekci says omicron is a classic tale of “good news-bad news.”

The good news, she says, is the seven studies have found that the highly infectious virus isn’t very good at getting deep into the lungs where coronaviruses do the most damage.

The bad news? Well, it’s that the good news is just dumb luck. Tufekci says that if omicron had been as deadly as delta, the government’s “haphazard and disorganized” response would have put the entire nation at risk. And their guidance on how to proceed has left Americans more confused than reassured.

Tufekci joins host Scott Tong to discuss her latest piece, titled “The C.D.C. is Hoping You’ll Figure Covid Out on Your Own.”

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.