“New COVID variant spreads across US as CDC raises concerns: ‘Viral evolution,’” headlined Fox News on March 25. The BA.3.2 variant “has about 70 to 75 changes in the gene sequence of its spike protein,” which helps the virus “enter human cells.” The variant also shows “immune escape characteristics,” that “may help it partially evade existing immunity from vaccines or prior infection.” Newsweek is also on the story.

“A new COVID variant known as BA.3.2 has been detected across 25 U.S. states and may make immunity from vaccines or past infections less effective,” but there’s an issue. “BA.3.2 is a heavily mutated sub variant of Omicron first identified in a respiratory sample collected in South Africa in November 2024.” In the United States, the Omicron subvariant was first detected on June 7, 2025,“in a traveler from the Netherlands at San Francisco International Airport.”

The report, written with the aid of “AI assistant Martyn,” does not identify the traveler or the official who detected the Omicron variant. Alert readers may recall similar “reports” from last summer.

“Covid is rising in California again,” warned the San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times. Gov. Gavin Newsom appointee Dr. Erica Pan, director of the California Department of Public Health, proclaimed that everyone aged six months and older “should have access and the choice to receive currently authorized COVID-19 vaccines,” and so on. This, too, was something of a repeat.

In the run-up to the 2024 Super Bowl, Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs was pushing vaccines for new COVID “variants” to be conveniently taken with the annual flu shot. According to Dr. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt, the infectiousness, transmissibility, and severity are “about the same” as the Omicron variant. So the “variants” are basically the same, just given a new number and menacing name.

Ian Miller of Outkick and Katy Grimes of the California Globe noted that the symptoms were the same as those of seasonal flu. Miller saw it as an attempt to revive COVID panic, and another dynamic was in play. The menacing new variants appeared to be a bid to revive faith in the infallibility of government medical agencies and officials such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, whom Schaffner called a “genius.”

Anthony Fauci earned a medical degree in 1966, but in 1968 took a post with the National Institutes of Health. His bio showed no advanced degrees in molecular biology or biochemistry, but in 1984 the NIH appointed him as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Nobel laureate Kary Mullis, inventor of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, contended that Fauci did not understand electronic microscopy, did not understand medicine, and “should not be in a position like he’s in.”

The NIAID boss funded the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) to conduct gain-of-function research that makes viruses more lethal and transmissible. Dr. Fauci also claimed that the Covid virus emerged naturally in the wild, a claim based on speculation, not science. When scientists saw evidence of a laboratory origin, Fauci smeared them as “conspiracy theorists.” When Sen. Rand Paul criticized him, Fauci claimed “I represent science.”

The longtime bureaucrat imposed a rigid lockdown regime that caused untold suffering and loss. When the scientists behind the Great Barrington Declaration pushed for a more open approach, the NIH director Francis Collins and Fauci smeared them as “fringe epidemiologists.” Most, if not all, were more qualified than Fauci, who caught a break.

On his last day in the White House, Joe Biden pardoned Fauci, without specifying the crime he committed. For millions of Americans, Fauci was the face of white coat supremacy, but he was not the first to signal the arrival of COVID in America. That task fell to Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the longtime director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD).

During a series of telebriefings early in 2020, Dr. Messonnier informed reporters that a “novel coronavirus” from the “Wuhan market” would spread nationwide. At a briefing on February 5, 2020, reporters inquired about people returning from Wuhan. Dr. Messonnier replied that it was “not something that I’m at liberty to talk about today.” The person responsible for issuing the gag order was not identified.

Dr. Messonnier started her career with the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, a medical CIA designed to prevent plagues, viruses, and similar threats from reaching American soil. With COVID, they clearly failed, and EIS alum Messonnier has yet to explain their role.

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a founder of the Great Barrington Declaration, became the NIH director in April 2025. Bhattacharya quickly removed Fauci’s allies, including his wife Christine Grady, a bioethics chief for the NIH. Whatever humble Tony wanted to do, Christine was okay with it.

This February, Bhattacharya became acting director of the CDC, now warning of mysterious COVID variants stalking the land. No word on whether the variants’ newfound ability to “evade existing immunity” has been verified by independent scientists and their studies replicated, which is part of the scientific method. If not, they are no more scientific than Fauci’s claim that COVID arose naturally in the wild, or that he personally represented science. Bhattacharya should investigate it.

One final point: Joe Biden did not pardon Dr. Nancy Messonnier, who is the sister of Rod Rosenstein, a key Justice Department official involved with the Russia hoax. Bhattacharya should address a few questions to the former CDC official. For example, who told her that she was “not at liberty” to talk about travel from Wuhan? Why did the vaunted Epidemic Intelligence Service fail to prevent COVID from arriving in America? People have a right to know.