New variant, new panic, new restrictions? (Opinion)

Last week word came out of Africa that a new COVID-19 variant was discovered. They were South African scientists studying a new variant that has been detected in several parts of the world.

The overreaction was immediate. The stock market plunged Friday on the news and the president immediately ordered travel restrictions from several countries on the African continent.

The virus variant so far has not proved to be more deadly or more serious than previous versions of COVID but more data needs to be collected to know for sure. But that hasn't stopped the media or Dr. Fauci from stoking the flames of fear so common in the last 20 months.

Since our governor loves to follow the direction of the CDC no matter how many blunders they make or how ill-advised their directives are, be prepared for more restrictions.

He has held off on any new rules in the last few months, but now that his re-election is behind him, stay tuned. The fear machine continues to crank out vaccine commercials that are the most aggressive propaganda effort by our government in generations.

They're scary. Not in the prospect of getting the virus, but in the lengths they'll go to get to people on an emotional level.

Through all the fear-mongering to get younger people to get vaccinated, the average age of a COVID death in the U.S. is 82.4 years. That is higher than the average age of life expectancy in the U.S. at 78.9. So why the big push? It certainly makes people who pay attention to facts and their own health wonder what's going on and feel suspicious.

I wouldn't be surprised if King Murphy were to make another decree this week based on this new variant, no matter what "the science" really says.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy. Any opinions expressed are Dennis Malloy's own.