Omicron Leaves Most People Unfazed, Opposition to New Mandates High

Karl Salzmann of the Washington Free Beacon gauges public reaction to the latest version of COVID-19.

A vast majority of Americans oppose mandates or restrictions for the Omicron variant, according to a poll released Wednesday.

The poll, which was conducted by Convention of States Action and the Trafalgar Group, found that 69 percent of Americans “say no new mandates or restrictions are required for the Omicron variant of COVID-19.” That number includes 67 percent of independents, 86 percent of Republicans, and 54 percent of Democrats.

Of those surveyed, 38 percent oppose new mandates or restrictions “regardless of [the] risk from Omicron,” while 31 percent say “Omicron is not a serious health risk.” Only 30 percent say Omicron is a serious risk that warrants additional mandates and restrictions.

Politicians have already begun imposing restrictions over the Omicron variant. The Biden administration in November issued travel bans for eight African nations and mandated that even vaccinated foreign travelers have to test negative. The governors of California and New York, meanwhile, reinstated indoor mask mandates amid Omicron fears and increasing case numbers.

This poll is not the first to find that Americans widely oppose COVID-19 mandates. Convention of States Action and the Trafalgar Group found in September that nearly 59 percent of voters oppose President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate on private businesses. And 65 percent say their fellow Americans should not lose their jobs for refusing the vaccine.

Don’t expect public sentiment to guide people like Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Despite professing his ignorance, Fauci insists that people can protect themselves against the omicron variant by getting vaccinated or getting boosters. …

… Additionally, Fauci’s again threatening to lock down America, never mind that lockdowns had no effect on COVID whatsoever—although they did turn old age homes into slaughterhouses, led to tens of thousands of drug overdoses, increased domestic abuse, witnessed more suicides, fatally slowed treatments of serious illness such as heart disease and cancer, and damaged children both academically and psychologically.