3 Reasons We’re Still Talking About COVID

Despite having been over for years, the COVID pandemic still looms large in the public discourse. (Pew Research Center)

Lessons learned: This week, a GOP-led House subcommittee released its final report on the pandemic.

• Virus origins: The report claims COVID-19 likely came from a lab accident, citing testimony from experts, and alleges that Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, encouraged research supporting the competing theory that the virus arose naturally.

• Government response: The subcommittee criticized pandemic measures like lockdowns, masks and social distancing as ineffective, though it acknowledged benefits from early travel restrictions and public-private testing efforts.

• Rep. Brad Wenstrup, the Ohio Republican who chaired the subcommittee: “The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a distrust in leadership. Trust is earned. Accountability, transparency, honesty, and integrity will regain this trust.”

No letting go: A small minority of Americans, like former New York Times and Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz, argue we should continue acting as if we’re still in the midst of a pandemic.

• After Lorenz’s recent complaint about maskless Americans “raw dogging the air” went viral, Commentary Magazine editor John Podhoretz quipped, “Taylor Lorenz was the LEADING JOURNALIST IN AMERICA when it came to Internet trends, the two leading newspapers in the US fought over her, and she was just as crazy then, and they didn’t care.”

The public: According to a new Pew Research Center survey, 60% of Americans say they probably won’t get the updated COVID-19 vaccine, while 24% plan to, and 15% have already received it.