Given the recent outbreak of the Omicron variant and much still unknown about it, the facts surrounding the Delta variant provide a cautionary tale of how misinformation about SARS-CoV-2 variants provides cover for people who have caused widespread harm and countless deaths. Government officials and media outlets have often blamed the Delta variant—and are preemptively blaming the Omicron variant—for:
- surging Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths amid rising vaccination rates and booster shots (President Biden & the New York Times).
- Covid-19 outbreaks in schools (the CDC & WebMD).
- inflation (the Washington Post & the New York Times).
- supply chain disruptions (NPR & the Washington Post).
- sagging economic growth (Reuters & Yahoo Finance).
- “a lot of the problems with the economy” (CNN).
