Morning Wire XX
[0] A new COVID variant has been discovered in South Africa, sending global markets tumbling and authorities scrambling to re -implement travel bans.
[1] We'll look at how the Biden administration is responding and talk to a leading expert about the new variant.
[2] Variants are going to continue to happen year to year.
[3] We're going to see this virus ebb and flow at low levels.
[4] And we're going to continue to see people with immunity protected.
[5] And they should live their lives.
[6] I'm John Bickley with Georgia Howell.
[7] It's Monday, November.
[8] November 29th, and this is Morning Wire.
[9] Over Thanksgiving weekend, a spate of flash mob burglaries broke out across the country, leaving retail employees traumatized and one security guard dead.
[10] What are flash mob robberies, and why are they becoming so common?
[11] Thanks for waking up in Morning Wire.
[12] Stay tuned.
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[21] Last week, reports of a new COVID variant emerged in Europe and parts of Africa, leaving global markets tumbling and governments worldwide quickly re -implementing travel bans.
[22] Here with more on how the new variant will impact international travel and the economy at home is DailyWire's Cabot Phillips.
[23] So Cabot, catch us up on how we got here.
[24] So last week, doctors in Botswana reported multiple cases of a new COVID strain with mutations they hadn't yet seen.
[25] Then on Wednesday, doctors in South Africa confirmed multiple cases of a new strain dubbed Omicron.
[26] By Sunday evening, there had been confirmed cases of the variant in South Africa, England, Germany, Israel, Italy, and even Canada.
[27] Now, there's yet to be a confirmed case here in the U .S., but experts say it's only a matter of time before we have our first few cases, and there's a good chance that's already here, but just hasn't been detected.
[28] So what sort of reaction are we seeing from the medical community?
[29] There have been two main questions medical experts are digging into.
[30] First is how dangerous the strain is, and second, how resistant it'll be to existing vaccines and COVID treatments.
[31] On the first question, the good news is that so far the strain doesn't appear particularly dangerous.
[32] Dr. Angelique Coetsi, chair of the South African Medical Association, warned against overreactions, saying, quote, it's all speculation at this stage.
[33] And maybe it's highly transmissible, but so far the cases we are seeing are extremely mild.
[34] She also added that, quote, there's a whole lot of hype out there.
[35] We're not sure why.
[36] So some words of caution there about, you know, alarmist reactions to initial reports.
[37] Exactly.
[38] And to that second question about how resistant the strain will be to vaccines, we won't really have an answer there until there's been enough time for testing.
[39] Moderna has said that they've been preparing for variants like this since last winter, and they're currently testing stronger booster shots to ward off the variant, or even a new shot altogether that will anticipate strain mutations before they happen.
[40] Pfizer has also said that if it's needed, they can develop a specific vaccine for the new variant within 100 days or so.
[41] We saw the markets take a hit on Friday after news of the variant broke out.
[42] What's the latest there?
[43] Yeah, the medical community may have been urging people not to panic, but traders on Wall Street weren't really listening.
[44] On Friday, the Dow Jones had its worst day of the year, falling 900 points as news of the variant broke.
[45] The S &P and NASDAQ also dropped over 2 % each.
[46] Asian and European markets were also hit hard on Friday as renewed travel bans were announced in response to the variant.
[47] Remember, if there's one thing markets react poorly to, it's uncertainty.
[48] And even though the variant doesn't appear to be all that serious right now, the uncertainty surrounding travel bans and potential renewed lockdowns as the holidays approach clearly has them worried you mentioned the travel bans which countries have imposed them so far internationally the EU and UK both implemented travel bans from south african countries we saw the strongest reaction though from Israel where all foreign travelers were banned from entry for two weeks after they had a visitor coming from malawi test positive for that new variant domestically president Biden announced that starting monday the u .s would be restricting travel from eight African nations, most notably South Africa.
[49] And keep in mind, travel restrictions from those countries had actually just been lifted for the first time a few weeks earlier.
[50] So this is quite the turnaround.
[51] Those travel restrictions were met with some pushback over the weekend.
[52] Some said they were hypocritical, given the fact that when former President Trump ordered a similar travel ban from China back in early 2020, Joe Biden appeared to suggest that it was, quote, xenophobic, though Biden's campaign has since denied that.
[53] Others questioned why the travel ban was delayed until Monday if they were really concerned about the spread in the meantime.
[54] Republican Senator Tom Cotton, for example, called the new travel bans, quote, worse than useless.
[55] So now the question moving forward is whether these lockdowns will help slow the spread and if they'll be followed by renewed lockdowns and other types of measures.
[56] To give us more information and perspective on this new variant, we'll hear from Dr. Marty McCarrie who spoke with Cabot about it next.
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[60] Morning Wire wanted to get more information on this new Omicron variant of COVID.
[61] So Daily Wire's Cabot Phillips reached out to Johns Hopkins University's Dr. Marty McCarrie, a leading expert on the subject.
[62] Dr. McCarrie, thanks for coming on.
[63] Great to be with you, Cabot.
[64] So what can you tell us about this new variant?
[65] What are the main things that people should know right now?
[66] Well, I think the first thing is that we shouldn't jump to conclusions.
[67] There's a lot of fear about it, but historically, all the variants to date of COVID, all 2 ,000 of them have been encompassed by natural and vaccinated immunity.
[68] So we should feel comforted in that, even though we don't have good data on whether or not this evades immune protection.
[69] And I think the other point people should know is that, The therapeutics that we have, the new antiviral drugs that are coming on and some of the existing medications like flu -floxamine work against any variant.
[70] So we should feel good about our ability to fight this if it evades immune production, which again is unlikely.
[71] And so from what you've seen so far about the existing cases that we have documented, do you know anything yet about the danger that the variant poses?
[72] Is it more or less dangerous from what we've seen so far as traditional COVID?
[73] We don't know, but it's hard for a virus to mutate to become more dangerous at this point.
[74] None of the mutations have really demonstrated that.
[75] It may become more contagious, but if it's encompassed by our current immune protection, then we should be fine.
[76] Looking big picture, I think a lot of people are wondering if this is just going to be the new norm, where variants come out every few months.
[77] Is that something that you think that we should start to expect?
[78] Yes.
[79] Variants are going to continue to happen year to year.
[80] We're going to see this virus ebb and flow at low levels.
[81] And we're going to continue to see people with immunity protected.
[82] And they should live their lives.
[83] At this point, we need to recognize that this is going to be endemic.
[84] And when we have our new antiviral medications that, by the way, in the phase three clinical trials have been so remarkable, they cut COVID deaths to nearly zero.
[85] That's just from an antiviral medication.
[86] So we've got to remember that marks a significant end to the pandemic phase, at least in the United States.
[87] And what are your thoughts on the effectiveness of the travel bans from eight African countries, most notably South Africa?
[88] Do you view those as necessary or do you think that at this point it's kind of too late given the potential spread of the variant?
[89] Well, travel bans don't work very well when you have vigorous testing.
[90] And if anything, it doesn't make sense to say we're going to enact a travel ban down the road in the future, which is exactly what we did.
[91] Now, a travel ban when you don't have good testing can be very important like it was last year.
[92] But now that you can test everybody who gets on the plane, everybody gets off the plane, and make sure that they have immunity, either national or vaccinated, that's pretty good.
[93] And if we start penalizing countries that tell us about a new variant, we're going to create a perverse incentive for them not to report about it.
[94] So in closing, what's your message to the average American listening right now about how they should feel about all this news?
[95] Well, we should always show humility around a virus that has done things unexpected, and it's possible that this could create another epidemic, but it's highly unlikely.
[96] And if we look at all the various to date, we've got a good track record to say that immune protection works, it's durable, and it's something we can depend on.
[97] So I would say, don't change your lives.
[98] Let's not create fear based on the unknown.
[99] And I think we should feel good about the new generation of medications coming out.
[100] You know, the first thing Dr. Fauci said when asked about Omicron, the new variant, was that everybody needs to get a booster.
[101] But they're unrelated.
[102] We have absolutely no evidence.
[103] So boosters make sense in older folks.
[104] But for younger people, I think we should stay the course.
[105] Dr. McCarrie, thank you so much for your time.
[106] We appreciate you coming on.
[107] Great to be with you, Cabot.
[108] That was Dr. Marty McCarrie of Johns Hopkins University and Daily Wire's Cabot Phillips.
[109] Amid an uptick in crime nationwide, police are warning about a wave of flash mob robberies, particularly in California.
[110] Georgia, you've been looking into this phenomenon.
[111] First, let's define the terms.
[112] What is a flash mob robbery?
[113] Yeah, so major metropolitan areas, specifically San Francisco and some other California cities, but not exclusively California, are struggling with a wave of what police are calling flash mob robberies, which are basically robberies, committed by a large group of usually armed people, frequently young adults and teenagers.
[114] So to simplify this, the group shows up at the store and overwhelms the employees.
[115] They smash display cases and they load up on expensive items and then they typically run out to getaway cars that are waiting outside.
[116] So sometimes these flash mobs will have dozens of people involved and they can do a huge amount of damage.
[117] Just this past weekend, Oakland, California saw flash mob robberies in multiple pharmacies, a cannabis dispensary, a Nordstrom, a Louis Vuitton, and a jewelry store.
[118] And we've seen reports that there are 20 to 30 people at times involved in these.
[119] Right, exactly.
[120] I think one had almost 60 people involved.
[121] And one of these, at least, has turned deadly, right?
[122] That's right.
[123] On Wednesday, a San Francisco news crew from KRON4 was able to capture a robbery on tape, in which 12 thieves raided a clothing store.
[124] One assailant actually tried to steal the channel's camera equipment, and unfortunately, a security guard for the news crew was fatally shot while trying to protect the news crew.
[125] One of the big questions here, you know, why is this happening now?
[126] Sure.
[127] Well, in San Francisco specifically, a lot of people are pointing fingers at the DA, Chesa Boudin.
[128] He's been criticized as being exceedingly soft on crime, which has led to a pretty robust recall effort.
[129] Outside of San Francisco, though, other Californians are pointing to California's Proposition 47, which went into effect in 2014.
[130] Prop 47 recategorized some common nonviolent offenses as misdemeanors rather than felonies, including shoplifting, thus drastically reducing the penalties for certain crimes.
[131] Right.
[132] We've seen that actually cited in a few other reports about the rising crime.
[133] But it doesn't fully explain the phenomenon because it's also happening outside of California, too.
[134] For example, on Black Friday, two best by locations in Minnesota were similarly burglarized by groups of people.
[135] And some people are pointing to reduced police presence as a cause of this increased crime and this more brazen type of crime.
[136] So if you recall, Minneapolis was one of the first cities to call for defunding their police in the wake of the death of George Floyd, which caused significant attrition among their police force.
[137] Any other factors potentially playing into this?
[138] So besides changes in the law and reduced police presence, some people are saying there might be some economic drivers behind the trend as well.
[139] Okay.
[140] Inflation is at a 30 -year high right now, and that's profoundly destabilizing, especially to people at the lower end of the economic spectrum.
[141] So as prices for basic goods outpace wages, the incentive to buy and sell in the black market also increases, unfortunately.
[142] So for example, in mid -November, we saw a story out of Connecticut where a group of thieves were seen loading up a minivan with stolen tied detergent.
[143] So this isn't just affecting luxury stores.
[144] We're really seeing this at every level of retail.
[145] Got it.
[146] So when you pair that profit motive with reduced penalties for crime, this type of theft, unfortunately, becomes pretty attractive.
[147] Right.
[148] and we've seen predictions from law enforcement officials that this type of crime will almost certainly continue to spread.
[149] Georgia, thanks for bringing us this story.
[150] No problem.
[151] Another story we're tracking this week.
[152] A 7 .5 magnitude earthquake struck northern Peru at about 6 a .m. Sunday, causing damage to buildings, including a 16th century church, and blocking several roads.
[153] Despite the fact that tremors were felt as far as Colombia and Brazil, no deaths have been reported.
[154] Though at least three people have suffered, minor injuries.
[155] Peru is located within the Pacific Ring of Fire, home to 85 % of the planet's seismic activity.
[156] If you like this episode and are interested in hearing more, subscribe to Morning Wire on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening, and give us a five -star review.
[157] That's all the time we've got this morning.
[158] Thanks for waking up with us.
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