We reported earlier this week on the CDC’s abrupt change on the isolation restriction guidelines for those who have tested positive for COVID-19. They lessened the recommended period of isolation from 10 days to five days, and if you are asymptomatic after the five days you can “return to normal activities” as long as you wear a mask around others, including while at home, for at least the next five days. If you have symptoms after the five-day period, they recommend you stay home and continue self-care.

Various media reports about the CDC’s updated guidelines included speculation from “experts” who indicated that the change was likely driven largely by economic considerations due to the sheer volume of people who have caught or who are expected to come down with the Omicron variant.

President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci confirmed as much during a CNN interview done two days after Christmas, stating that the “reason is that with the sheer volume of new cases that we are having and that we expect to continue with Omicron, one of the things we want to be careful of is that we don’t have so many people out.” Fauci’s remarks caused a freakout on the left, who suggested in so many words that Fauci – previously regarded as a saint by these same people – and other health experts were putting money ahead of people’s lives.

The discerning reader will note that while Fauci’s answer was not a very “science-y” one from the “we must trust the science!” administration, the response CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky gave on the network’s “New Day” program this morning was even less so. During the segment, she admitted to reporter Katilan Collins that the change “really had a lot to do with what we thought people would be able to tolerate.”

Watch:

“It really had a lot to do with what we thought people would be able to tolerate,” CDC Director Walensky says on why the CDC shortened the isolation period from 10 days to 5 days if you’re asymptomatic. Our full interview: pic.twitter.com/rO7blPFiPj

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) December 29, 2021

Reading between the lines here, the real driver behind the isolation change – in my humble opinion – was not just economics but also because the “important” people, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, so-called business leaders, and others who preached to the highest hilt about getting vaccinated, boostered, and all that were catching the Omicron variant even though they were the supposedly “safe” types who wouldn’t catch it. Of course, they didn’t want to stick to the same rules they demanded others who were infected adhere to. Thus the change.

Amazing, isn’t it?

It’s not just the left who should be outraged by the CDC’s move but also the right, but for different reasons.

For most of last year, President Trump was saying we couldn’t continue on the route we were going with keeping people and businesses locked down during the virus because that’s not the way this country was designed to operate. Some of the same people who are now saying essentially the same thing accused him at the time of being a murderer for making such an astute observation.

Fast forward a year, and not only are the people who demanded everyone hunker down at home and that businesses be willing to make “sacrifices” for the greater good or whatever are now saying just the opposite, primarily because it’s them who are being called on to make sacrifices in both their personal and professional lives, and we can’t have that, now can we?

Plus, there are political considerations for Joe Biden going into a midterm election year, and it just wouldn’t look good over the next few months for the guy who promised to “shut down the virus” to continue the country on such an unsustainable path, now would it?

Flashback: Dr. Fauci Gives Very Unscience-y Answer When Asked ‘What’s the Science’ by CNN, the Reactions Were Brutal