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Dr. Fauci announced this week that we are

Not that the pandemic is over.

The latest variant is still spreading – that’s the reason we’re back to doing this broadcast remotely, at least for a few more days – but the level of infection and hospitalization is nowhere near what we saw last year.

And even more significant – at least to me – is that America is open again, while in China, Shanghai has been shutdown for a month. People are worried, angry, and in some cases hungry because they’ve had trouble getting food.

And Beijing may be next.

This is a big deal. Because if you remember yesterday’s interview with China expert and former General Robert Spalding – China has been using COVID to demonstrate the superiority of Communist rule.

That’s how they got people to accept total surveillance and forced quarantines. President Xi Jinping declared that, in a crisis, Communist control is far superior to any system that allows individual liberty.

They want to equate Democracy with chaos and death. And, if you believe their figures, it worked. Total COVID deaths in the US are 991,000. Total COVID deaths in China – if you believe their figures – are 4,828.

Conclusive proof of Communist superiority.

But the one thing the Chinese Communists didn’t figure out was how to create immunity. Their home-grown vaccine was only 50% effective – and they never approved any of the US vaccines – probably to show they didn’t need outside help.

As a result – they now have a very vulnerable population. So when the new variant appeared in Shanghai, a shutdown was the only option.

Whereas here in the US, about 77% of us have had at least one dose of an effective vaccine. Plus, nearly 60% caught the virus and got the antibodies that way, even if they weren’t vaccinated.

Which is good news in terms of national wellness – but also a chance to send a message of our own: a raucous democracy might just be able to keep cities open without resorting to anything like the claustrophobic surveillance and forced quarantines of Chinese Communism.

So, let’s not blow it.

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