During Monday’s CBS Mornings, the liberal crew lamented that Americans were “letting down their guard” with COVID and weren’t masking anymore, leading to a small summer spike in cases. Even though the pandemic was officially over and most Americans wanted life to return to normal, the pearl-clutchers at CBS demanded a return to masking in indoor public spaces and for people to get more booster shots.
Without giving any form of context or underlying numbers, co-host Gayle King hysterically warned that “Hospitalization rates, they are up more than 12 percent in the most recent weeks surveyed by the CDC.” She added that “COVID has been found in a rising number of wastewater samples. The virus is usually detected in wastewater up to a week before people start actually start testing positive.”
King then looked to CBS medical contributor Dr. Celine Gounder to tell people to snap out of their post-pandemic apathy and bust out their masks again. Gounder bemoaned about “people letting down their guard” and trying to go back to normal:
KING: You know, people are going, “Enough already, we are so ready to move on.” It’s been a long time since I’ve even really thought about COVID. But why are the cases going up and where?
GOUNDER: Well, it’s a combination of people letting down their guard. I think a lot of people think, “Oh we were in this bunker during the pandemic, it’s going to go away when I come out.” And unfortunately, it is still there. So just because you think you’re done with COVID doesn’t mean that the virus is not still circulating.
KING: Letting our guard down how?
GOUNDER: Well, we’re not masking as much, for example, in public transportation. So, on the plane on the subway –
KING: I’m not masking anymore. Should we?
GOUNDER: Well, if you’re in a crowded indoor public space, you might want to in certain situations, particularly as we go into the fall/winter season. And where we’re seeing it go up the most right now is in the Midwest.
Possibly hoping for a grim update, co-host Nate Burleson wondered if the latest cases were leading to more serve hospitalizations. But Gounder admitted, “They are on average not more severe right now. If you look at sort of ICU admissions, they’re probably stable.”
Fill-in co-host Dana Jacobson teed up Gounder to go off on the XBB and Eris variants and push for people to get their booster shots:
JACOBSON: But there’s a new variant, Eris. What can you tell us about that? And do we have a booster that we’ll have to help protect against it?
GOUNDER: So, Eris is a new variant … It is closely related to XBB, which is the variant, the most recent variant, the vaccines that are coming out this fall are fine-tuned for XBB and will provide good protection against Eris as well.
King did her best Simpsons impression when inquired about COVID vaccines for kids. “What about the kids and children?” she wanted to know. “A lot of kids haven’t even gotten their first round of vaccinations. So, kids and infants really need to get their first round to protect them ahead of the fall and winter,” Gounder implored viewers.
Jacobson concluded the segment with praise for Gounder’s vaccine message: “You’ve been saying that since the beginning, and that message has been changed.”
CBS’s COVID hysteria was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Liberty Mutual and Swiffer. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click “expand” to read:
CBS Mornings
August 14, 2023
7:40:46 a.m. EasternGAYLE KING: The U.S. is seeing an increase in COVID cases. Nobody wants to hear that. Hospitalization rates, they are up more than 12 percent in the most recent weeks surveyed by the CDC. And in a sign of what could be ahead, COVID has been found in a rising number of wastewater samples. The virus is usually detected in wastewater up to a week before people start actually start testing positive.
CBS News medical contributor, that’s Dr. Celine Gounder is with us, she’s the editor-at-large for public health at KFF. Good morning to you Dr. Celine.
You know, people are going, “enough already, we are so ready to move on.” It’s been a long time since I’ve even really thought about COVID. But why are the cases going up and where?
DR. CELINE GOUNDER: Well, it’s combination of people letting down their guard. I think a lot of people think, “oh we were in this bunker during the pandemic, it’s going to go away when I come out.” And unfortunately, it is still there. So just because you think you’re done with COVID doesn’t mean that the virus is not still circulating.
KING: Letting our guard down how?
GOUNDER: Well, we’re not masking as much, for example, in public transportation. So, on the plane on the subway –
KING: I’m not masking anymore. Should we?
GOUNDER: Well, if you’re in a crowded indoor public space, you might want to in certain situations, particularly as we go into the fall/winter season. And where we’re seeing it go up the most right now is in the Midwest.
NATE BURLESON: Now, these hospitalizations are increasing. How severe are these cases?
GOUNDER: They are on average not more severe right now. If you look at sort of ICU admissions, they’re probably stable.
BURLESON: Okay.
GOUNDER: But where we have seen an increase in ICU hospitalizations it’s really in parts of the country where we have long-standing health disparities. The people who are ending up in the hospital or in the E.R., there are two age groups. You have infants 0 to 1, who we know are under-vaccinated, less than five percent of those are vaccinated. And then people over 75. Even if you have previously been vaccinated, that group really is at higher risk and needs to be boosted.
DANA JACOBSON: But there’s a new variant, Eris. What can you tell us about that? And do we have a booster that we’ll have to help protect against it?
GOUNDER: So, Eris is a new variant. I don’t think anybody should be getting really too worried about Eris. And in general, just because you hear about a new variant doesn’t mean this is something to panic about.
BURLESON: Okay. That’s good to hear.
[Crosstalk]
GOUNDER: Yeah. And this is what viruses do, they mutate. You’re going to have new variants emerge. It is closely related to XBB, which is the variant, the most recent variant, the vaccines that are coming out this fall are fine-tuned for XBB and will provide good protection against Eris as well.
KING: And the vaccines and boosters are still crucial and key aren’t, still?
GOUNDER: Well, especially if you’re in one of those high-risk groups. So, people over 75, especially with the elderly in general, pregnant women, people who are immune comprised, people who live in nursing homes –
KING: What about the kids and children?
GOUNDER: And kids. A lot of kids haven’t even gotten their first round of vaccinations. So, kids and infants really need to get their first round to protect them ahead of the fall and winter.
JACOBSON: You’ve been saying that since the beginning, and that message has been changed. Thank you so much, Dr. Gounder.