With the Omicron variant of Covid-19 being the major story of the day on Tuesday, and President Biden giving an address laying out yet another plan to end the pandemic, NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt did an interview where he pushed Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy to recommend individuals impose a "self-lockdown” and “dial back” their lives “on all fronts."
Following a fair question about what someone should do if they tested positive for Covid, there appeared to be an abrupt video edit and awkward transition from another question about the Omicron variant and its mild symptoms.
In this aired question, Holt seemed to fear that those mild symptoms wouldn’t scare people enough to keep them locked in their homes and shut-in away from the rest of the world:
HOLT: Do you fear that people will take that as a license to go forward with their life knowing that they are infected?
MURTHY: We’re hoping that it’s a milder variant overall. But I do want people to know though, this not just about our health. Right? It’s about the health of the people we love, people we interact with.
And so, if you feel – if you only have mild symptoms, that's good, but we don't want you to pass the virus to somebody else who may be vulnerable.
In the preface to his apparent follow-up question, Holt whined: “We're seeing some cities take measures to protect their populations from this particular variant, but nothing in the way of lockdowns.”
This led him to wonder if Dr. Murhty’s official recommendation was for people to lock themselves away anyway. He even hung the duties of the surgeon general position over Murthy’s head:
As a health professional, someone who’s committed to protecting the health of the American people, would you recommend that we self-lockdown, that we begin to change our lifestyle and dial back on all fronts.
But Murthy didn’t take the bait. “Well, I think this is a time where it makes sense to be more vigilant about the decisions we make about how we engage with the rest of the world. We can do things that are most important to us. We can see family over the holidays, for example,” he said, noting precautionary measures.
But before the rest of Murthy’s comments could be shared, the audio cut out (Murthy's lips still moving). Holt ended the video and moved on.
This was another case of NBC trying to generate what I coined over a year ago as “despair porn.” It’s where NBC lobbied insanely for lockdowns and shutdowns across the country, then filled their air-time with mournful reports lamenting the mental, financial, and societal pain it caused.
Disgusting.
Lester Holt’s renewed demands for harmful and disastrous lockdowns was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from GEICO and Consumer Cellular. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC Nightly News
December 21, 2021
7:07:08 p.m. EasternLESTER HOLT: Back on Covid. Earlier, I spoke with the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy.
[Cuts to video]
If you come up from a test, get a positive result, what should you do, especially let’s assume you don't have any symptoms. What should you do?
DR. VIVEK MURTHY (U.S. Surgeon General): That's an important question because people can transmit the virus, in some cases even if they don't have symptoms.
So, if you test positive, an important thing to do is number one, you have to isolate for a period of time. The CDC recommends ten days because you could spread the virus to someone else during that time. Second thing that’s important for you to do is to notify people who you’ve been in contact with in the last 48 hours because they may be at risk.
And if they have symptoms, they should certainly get tested as well. And they need to quarantine if they were in close contact.
[Transition]
HOLT: Do you fear that people will take that as a license to go forward with their life knowing that they are infected?
MURTHY: We’re hoping that it’s a milder variant overall. But I do want people to know though, this not just about our health. Right? It’s about the health of the people we love, people we interact with.
And so, if you feel – if you only have mild symptoms, that's good, but we don't want you to pass the virus to somebody else who may be vulnerable.
HOLT: We're seeing some cities take measures to protect their populations from this particular variant, but nothing in the way of lockdowns.
As a health professional, someone who’s committed to protecting the health of the American people, would you recommend that we self-lockdown, that we begin to change our lifestyle and dial back on all fronts?
MURTHY: Well, I think this is a time where it makes sense to be more vigilant about the decisions we make about how we engage with the rest of the world. We can do things that are most important to us. We can see family over the holidays, for example.
But it requires us to be even more vigilant about using tools we have to protect ourselves. Tools that include getting vaccinated and boosted, and making sure we’re wearing a mask in public indoor spaces, and testing to make gatherings safer. And try to gather in well-ventilated spaces whenever possible, including outdoors when that is feasible.
If we do these, we can really reduce the risk that we will either get sick or transmit infection to other people. [Audio cut off]
[Cuts back to live]
HOLT: Part of my conversation with Dr. Murthy earlier.
