The Narrative Has Shifted, But Nothing's Changed

A press release from the LA County health department on Friday read, in part:

Key COVID-19 Indicators Trending in the Right Direction in L.A. County

New cases are considerably lower this week, with a decrease of 30 percent in the seven-day average of daily cases from last week. The test positivity rate has also dropped to 12.7 percent. On January 1st, the test positivity rate was 20.8 percent; this is a reduction of 39 percent in three weeks. On November 1st, just before our surge began, the County’s test positivity rate was 3.8 percent.

Nevertheless,

While we have come a long way this week with community transmission, we have a long road to go and must continue to practice infectious control measures: wear a face covering and maintain physical distance when out of your home.

blah blah blah. What stands out for me is that while there's now lots of happy talk, there's no indication of any prospective change in the most draconian lockdowns we have in much of the world, and more significantly, no news on when the ordinary plebs can get vaccinated. (The Archdiocese of Los Angeles's position, by the way, is that the vaccine is moral, and Catholics should get it, sooner rather than later.)

While certain large parking lots have been designated vaccination stations, they're apparently amied largely at the uninsured. There's no news on where we can get shots at Kaiser.

This parallels President Biden's announcement that “there is nothing we can do to change the trajectory of the pandemic over the next few months.” This marks a radical departure from the variations on "15 days to flatten the curve" that we've heard over the past year -- but again, there's no accompanying indication that, although this amounts to an admissiom that existing policies haven't worked, anything will be done to change them. If it doesn't matter whether you can get a haircut in California or not, why not let us get a haircut?

In fact, I've seen commentary that, with some parts of the world locked down about as tightly as they can be, there's no practical next move available to authorities. This is probably at the root of curfew orders in places like Quebec and France: authorities feel the need to look like they're doing something, no matter how feckless the measures they impose.

I sort of hope this is an indication that the panic is entering a late stage, in which it begins to dawn on more people that we're reactng to an overrated threat. If the most effective measure against it, vaccination, isn't being pursued as the highest priority, something's badly out of whack.

I think what we're seeeing is incompetence at very high levels. Officials have backed themselves into a position they can't easily unwind. I wouldn't rule out an end game not much different from the Waco massacre, which was the tragic set of blunders that ended the Satanic day care panic in 1993. I pray about this stuff.