Hope the likes of Starmer don't start continually whining again urging for "tougher measures" or even a lockdown.
Starmer has already been pressing for tougher measures and will continue to do so. Labour are the party for lockdowns and restrictions; see above.
It was him urging Johnson for there to be an immediate "Circuit breaker lockdown" for a while late last year and the press and media continually advertising his(and SAGE's) whining every day which contributed to the second national lockdown. We really don't need this happening again. What is also worrying is all these other countries going into lockdown or introducing/reimposing "tough measures", and the feeling this country could follow suite to be seen to be "doing something to combat Omicron".
Labour are not going to fully get their way. Yes they will continue to moan and they continue to be clueless. Just ignore them. That's what I am doing.
So far though, indications are that the Omicron variant is only causing MILD illness similar to a common cold! So absolutely no need for a lockdown or "tougher measures" to be introduced/reimposed!
The argument will go that we do not yet have data to prove that Omicron is not "more dangerous" than Delta and therefore, until it can be proven it is not "more dangerous" it has to be assumed that it is more dangerous.
On the balance of probabilities, it appears to be most likely to be less dangerous, followed by no real difference, with the least likely outcome being it is more dangerous. We don't know yet, and the Government isn't going to admit to having enough data for at least a couple of weeks.
Teresa May is spot on:
Former Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May says Omicron appears to be more transmissible than past variants but also appears to lead to less serious disease.
She says "variants will continue to appear year after year" and argues: "We cannot respond to each new variants by stopping and starting our economy which leads to businesses and jobs being lost".
Meanwhile in the US even Fauci is talking some sense:
"Thus far, it does not look like there’s a great degree of severity to it," he told CNN on Sunday. “But we have really got to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe or it really doesn’t cause any severe illness, comparable to Delta”.
Meanwhile Moderna are keen to cast doubt on the effectiveness of vaccines:
Stephen Hoge, president of Moderna, said there was a "real risk" existing vaccines may not be effective against the new strain.
Spoiler: it's not a new strain; there is very little risk of this; but of course companies like Moderna want to get funding to be able to develop updated versions of their vaccines in order to boost their profits. As one of the most pro-vaccine people you could meet, I find their methods of perusing profits, by casting doubt on the effectiveness of existing vaccines and spreading
FUD, to be both dangerous and despicable.