Omicron: What We Do and Don’t Know

The Daily Signal

Politics, Government, Daily News, News

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 8 December 2021

⏱️ 32 minutes

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Summary

There is still little data available on the new omicron variant of COVID-19 but that is not stopping some political leaders from implementing new policies and requirements. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has issued a vaccine mandate for employees across the city. The Biden administration is restricting travel from some nations while heavily promoting COVID-19 booster shots. But what do experts say is the right response to the omicron variant? Political leaders “shouldn't respond reflexively with the same old, same old tools that haven't worked all that well in the past,” says Doug Badger, a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation, the parent organization of The Daily Signal. Badger joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss what we do, and do not, know about the new COVID-19 variant and how our elected leaders can respond without restricting freedom. We also cover these stories: During a video meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Joe Biden expresses concerns over Russia's intents toward Ukraine. Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows says he no longer plans to cooperate with a congressional probe into the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. Lawmakers strip from the National Defense Authorization Act a controversial provision that would have required women to register for the military draft. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the Daily Signal Podcast for Wednesday, December 8th.
0:09.9	I'm Doug Blair.
0:10.9	And I'm Virginia Allen.
0:12.6	How should America's policymakers respond to the new COVID-19 variant?
0:17.6	New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has reacted by issuing a vaccine mandate for employees
0:23.4	across the city and the Biden administration is heavily promoting booster shots.
0:28.8	But what do experts say the right response should be?
0:32.9	Heritage Foundation senior fellow Doug Badger joins the show today to discuss what we know
0:38.2	about the new variant and how our elected leaders can respond without restricting freedoms.
0:44.1	But before we get to Virginia's conversation with Doug Badger, let's hit the top news
0:48.1	stories of the day.
1:01.9	During a Tuesday meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Joe Biden expressed
1:06.4	America and her European allies' concerns over the situation in Ukraine.
1:12.0	After US intelligence warned of a possible Russian invasion into Ukraine early next year,
1:16.5	the two leaders engaged in a more than two-hour video conference to discuss a global
1:20.6	response to increased Russian aggression, a White House summary of the call read, President
1:25.8	Biden voiced the deep concerns of the United States and our European allies about Russia's
1:30.7	escalation of forces surrounding Ukraine and made clear the US and our allies would respond
1:36.3	with strong economic and other measures in the event of military escalation.
1:41.1	Here to briefly explain the situation is a research associate for Russia and Eurasia at
1:44.9	the Heritage Foundation, Alexis Marachick.
1:47.4	Alexis, thank you for joining us.
	...

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