evolutionary purpose of intoxication and the role drinking has played throughout history. >> alcohol makes it harder to lie for instance. you paralyze the prefrontal cortex and it makes it hard to make up a lie. it makes us better at detecting lies. humans, when we are focusing consciously on detecting lies, don't do a good job. but if we relax and take in the variety of cues we do a better job. i am arguing alcohol, in the same way that when we meet we shake hands to show we are not holding a weapon in our right hand, cultures use intoxicants at treaty meetings or business meetings anything where you could have hostile people figuring out a way to cooperate as a cognitive disarmament. announcer: edward slingerland at 8:00 eastern on q&a. you can listen to all of our podcasts on the new c-span now have. ♪

♪ host: good morning and welcome to washington journal. a new variant of covid-19 has emerged in africa, raising concerns of another uncontrollable epidemic. the world health organization has designated this omicron and countries around the world are enacting travel bans in the hopes of slowing the spread. the variant is worrying doctors and researchers because it could be more contagious and less likely to be impacted by current vaccines. our question to you this morning, how concerned are you about this new variant? are you worried the world health organization has designated this new covid-19 strain a variant of concern? we open regional lines this morning which means if you are in the eastern or central time

zones, your telephone number is going to be (202)-748-8000. if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones, you can call in at (202)-748-8001. keep in mind you can always text as at (202)-748-8003 and we are always reading on social media on facebook at facebook.com/c-span and on twitter @c-spanwj, and you can follow us on instagram @c-spanwj. the announcement on friday that there has been a discovery of a new strain of covid-19 since the stock market crashing and has countries around the world planning travel bans and hope of keeping the strain under control. here is the story from the new york times this morning. the world reacted with alarm on friday to the highly mutated coronavirus variant discovered

in southern africa as the united states, european union and nations across the globe imposed new travel restrictions. financial markets swooned and visions of finally emerging from the pandemic started to dim. just two days after the world learned of the variant the world health organization labeled it a variant of concern. the most serious category in the first since the delta variant a year ago. the variant has mutated that might make it more contagious or virulent or make vaccines were other preventative measures less effective, though none of these effects has yet been established. after an emergency meeting the world health organization warned that preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with his variant in people who have already had covid-19. in keeping with the practice of naming variants for letters of

the greek alphabet, it dubbed the new one omicron. yesterday president biden came out and he was asked questions by reporters about the new variant. here is what president joe biden had to say. >> we are going to be cautious, make sure there is no travel to and from south africa and six other countries in that region. and except for american citizens able to come back. we don't know a lot about the variant except that it is of great concern. it seems to spread rapidly and i spent half an hour this morning with my covid team and dr. fauci . >> why have the markets dropped significantly? >> they always do when signs of covid rise. >> are you worried at all? >> not at all.

>> [indiscernible] >> that was the recommendation. host: why is this variant causing so much concern? npr has a story on its website that explains a little bit about what the omicron variant is and why people are worried. here is what it says. the omicron variant has been detected at faster rates than previous to surges. the world health organization says the detection of the variant in south africa coincided with a steep increase in cases and that its prevalence is increasing in almost all provinces of the country. the variant has caused a particularly sharp rise in one city where it went from being on

detectable several weeks ago to dominating the outbreak in a major city. cases have also cropped up in boston on a, belgium, hong kong -- botswana, belgium, hong kong and israel. are you concerned about this new strain of covid-19? you see the numbers on screen? let's start with sean calling from shackleford, virginia. good morning. caller: good morning, sir. it is very concerning. in reference to the last 23 months and the way it has adapted whatever reason it has. all we can do is pray and, lo and behold, we can get hold of this one quickly because if it is that lethal, we already lost over 700,000 in america.

but around the world it is probably five or 7 million. let's pray and hope we can resolve and god bless the world and america. host: sean, what do you think the american government should be doing to ensure that this strain does not do the same thing the delta variant did? caller: we gotta get the medical people around the world to work together to resolve it. that is where it is got to begin. we have to work this thing together the best we can. that's where i believe we have got to go with this. advanced as we are there is no stopping it. i called two years ago almost and i thought, lo and behold, it would only be resolved earlier but when it got released or

whatever you call it, however it got to where it is today, we should have been on top of this right away. host: sean, a lot of people went out over this past weekend because of the thanksgiving holiday and the black friday shopping day yesterday. will the fact this variant out there, will that make you a little more concerned about going out into crowds as christmas comes up and new year's comes up? caller: certainly and anybody around me i always tell them, if you are going to go, have a masking get a vaccination. this one we don't know how we are going to result it obviously. i learned about it while i was in the military. i can honestly say we have to act. we can't wait as a world. the united states has the best medical in the world. we have to work with, you know,

south africa or wherever is going to be the worst so it does not come to our shores again. host: let's talk to james calling from ohio. james, good morning. caller: good morning, sir. well, a number of things can be said about this. i am worried. i taught science in schools for 38 years. it was difficult to mention the word "evolution" most of my career. we are getting a lesson in evolution of a virus. omicron is about 10 letters of the greek alphabet from delta. the first thing to be said is there are probably more variants that have not been as troublesome. according to the world health organization, this variant has about 32 different spikes in the vehicle that allows us to cling

to human cells. i am worried. i am vaccinated. what we need to do -- i don't know so much about praying -- but what i do know is that we need to definitely be supporting the labs in south africa which are trying to find out how the virus is affected by the current vaccine modalities we have and then pumping lots of dollars down to those labs to try to hold -- hold into that part of the world as possible. that is what we failed to do at the beginning of the covid situation is put our technology

and our dollars and vaccines into the parts of the world that were most affected initially. host: james, do you plan on altering any of your holiday plans now that you know this very is out there, omicron is out there? a lot of people planned over the holidays. for example, this weekend is a big college football weekend. there will be stadiums full of people and we have christmas and new year's coming up. does the knowledge that this strain, omicron, is out there, does that mean you are going to change anything you have planned to do? caller: well, i guess it does not matter so much what i plan to do but to answer the question in a larger context, people are not going to change what they are doing. people are people. we have seen what people do. it is not going to matter much if 70% of the u.s. population is

vaccinated -- adult population -- when 75% of the young people are not going to get vaccinated in schools. that is going to spread whatever comes to this country regardless of the football games. host: all right. one of the things we know already is that it has -- the variant has already moved from africa to europe. here is a story from cnbc this morning where it is confirmed to be in belgium. belgium has confirmed a case of the new heavily mutated vibrant of the -- mutated variant of the virus. a sample was confirmed as the novel b1-1-529 variant. the patient showed symptoms on november 22.

the belgian health minister told reporters the individual was unvaccinated. it is a suspicious variant. we do not know if it is a dangerous variant, he said. belgium is home to the capital of the european union in brussels. the one thing we know already is that the omicron variant has already traveled from africa to europe. so, let's go back to our phone lines and talk to doc calling from baton rouge, louisiana. good morning. caller: good morning. restricting the travel from africa, is that not racist? i know when mr. trump restricted travel from several muslim countries years ago he was said

to be racist. is mr. biden racist now? host: let's go to tony calling from waterbury, connecticut. caller: jesse, i hope you had a great thanksgiving and the rest of the listeners out there. i am very concerned about this. the reason is i watch you guys daily and i watch the news and ice legal immigrants are coming in from the -- and illegal immigrants are coming in from the southern border. they come from all over the world, including africa. also, the government is shipping them all over the country. they have the virus. we see it in israel and belgium and the united kingdom. we have no clue what is going on. these people have the covid and

they don't even test them. that is my comment about this. i am very, very concerned. i don't know what we can do. can be close of the border? host: tony, do you plan to change anything you had planned over the holiday season because you know the variant is out there? caller: yes i am. i am vaccinated. i do have my booster. both my wife and i are in our mid 60's. we want to travel. we have not been able to travel and we want to go to, like, and mediterranean cruise. i want to see italy, i want to go in the mediterranean. we are not going. we are putting things on hold. it is crazy. host: tony, there is one state in your area, new york, that declared a state of emergency in anticipation of this variant. do you think -- what should states do now to ensure it does

not get worse over the next couple of months? caller: well, one thing they can do is encourage the vaccinations, encourage if you have pre-existing conditions, if you are going to be susceptible to having a hard time with this, wear your mask, etc. but i would want my governor to have a conversation with president biden because you reported, i think it was a few weeks ago, that they are dropping off the people, the immigrants, in the middle of the night. i am not far from westchester county. it was on tv. they showed it in the middle of the night they are dropping people off, just dropping them off. i believe in the spring or summer you reported there are

$60 million allocated to hotels -- $16 million allocated to hotels so they could be distributed across the country. they are asking the american people the social distance and get the vaccine and do the right thing and the government turns around and, without testing, without knowing -- and on your show you testified that there is a high percentage of people have the virus -- and we are distributing them all over the country. and yet, we want americans to do the right thing and their government is putting these people all over. if you put a map of where you distributed the people and put a map overlaid that with where the hotspots are, i would be, you know, i think we would be surprised at what we would see. host: let's talk to chris calling from lafayette,

louisiana. good morning. caller: good morning. yes i have been listening to you guys the past few minutes and in reference to this new variant that is being said that has now surfaced, i am not shocked at the fact that this variant has now come up, another version of covid-19. you know, it was discussed earlier in the beginning of the covid-19 thing that we would see this, we would see pop-ups of different variations of this virus. and from what i understand after listening to all the information over these past year and a half of all this covid-19 information it is not shocking that we have another variant.

it has been said by all those who know this process, the doctors and all the researchers, they said that this thing would mutate in many different ways. it is trying to find a way to survive and just like the flu, like the normal flu we deal with every year, this thing will be such as we just have to find ways not only to deal with it but to deal with it from a medical perspective. the one thing i want to leave us with is this. guys, we are an intelligent being and if we all use our god-given intelligence, we can overcome this too and learn to live with it. what hurts me about this is there are so many brothers and sisters we have lost and it seems as though we are not learning a lesson from what we

have lost. just look at the deaths. we should learn from each one of these deaths how to move forward of this virus. host: like i said, some northeastern states -- at least one northeastern state -- has already declared a state of emergency ahead of a potential spike in covid-19 cases and that is in new york. the nbc new york station has a story about what is going on there. new york governor kathy hochul has declared a state of emergency ahead of potential covid-19 spikes this winter due to the already circulating delta and newly identified omicron variants of coronavirus. the declaration, which goes into effect december 3, will allow the state to require pandemic fighting supplies, increased hospital capacity, and potential staffing shortages.

it would also allow the state health department to limit non-essential and non-urgent procedures at hospitals. we continue to see warning signs of spikes this upcoming winter and while the new omicron variant has yet to be detected in new york it is coming, she says. the move comes hours after the governor said her office was closely monitoring the variant which was first sequenced in south africa earlier this week. the variant contains around 50 concerning the presentation's from the original -- concerning mutations from the original virus, including 10 to the spike protein that allows the virus to access human cells. the new york governor has declared a state of emergency ahead of the potential omicron spike. we want to know if this new omicron variant is worrying you.

the world health organization already declared it a variant of concern, its highest rating for a variant. the last time they said they had a very of concern it was the delta variant. now they have identified this omicron variant which has countries around the world enacting travel bans. let's go back to the phone lines and talk to anthony calling from maryland. good morning. caller: good morning, jesse. i have read about this omicron. my major concern is that it came from africa. it came from south africa. [indiscernible]

this variant or strain comes from south africa or a south african country. not all of africa. you are scaring them, people from north africa, east africa. you are spreading misinformation and not telling you exactly where this came from. host: i have to disagree with you a little bit because we are also saying it is in europe while it has only been in belgium. we are talking about continents not countries. i have to disagree just a little bit. caller: it originated from south africa, not africa. host: let's talk to rick calling from napa, idaho. good morning. caller: good morning, jesse.

retired marine. i have got a good one for you. every four years there was a mandate that we took the tetanus shot because when you work on a jet and you get cut they did not want you to get sick. when i retired i got into transportation, the foodgrade industry. we are required to take the tetanus shot. i had to take a tennis shot every two years. i have had 10 the last 20 years and i went online, typed in tetanus vaccine versus covid vaccine and here's the punchline, it is a wake-up call. they both do the same thing up to 60 percentile. if you are in doubt, at least get the tetanus shot because 60% of what the covid vaccine desperate jesse, i appreciate the extra two seconds. get a tetanus shot if you are in doubt. thanks again. host: once again, we have talked

during the show about the travel bans that are coming up from the united states and other countries and i want to bring to you exactly what has been done in the united states. there is a story from the washington post that talks about the actual bans coming up in the united states. the united states will restrict travel from south africa and seven other countries starting monday as president biden and his administration cautiously responded to a wave of global anxiety over the new omicron coronavirus very. the travel policy was implemented out of abundance of caution in light of the new variant circulating in south africa, a senior official said. other regions and countries including the european union, britain, japan and israel also

set restrictions for air travelers arriving from southern africa. the restrictions will apply to travelers from south africa, botswana, namibia, mozambique and malawi. they do not apply to american citizens and lawful permanent residents. the restrictions from travel will begin monday from these eight countries in africa as you can see on screen. the new travel restrictions will begin on monday coming to the united states. let's go back to the phone lines and talk to tom who is

our winter, and they are just starting to get together and get crowded, and this is starting to happen. i would be extremely concerned about, whether you are vaccinated or not, people congregating, like we do in the northern hemisphere, and florida, i think this is definitely something, we are not even sure, and everybody is going to be reacting to this, so it is definitely a concern. host: let's talk to stephen, who

is calling from connecticut. caller: hi, jesse. i had covid twice, in 2020 and that in 2021, the version of delta. it is pretty nasty. i never smoked in my entire life. it is like breathing in concrete. it took me about 15 days to get rid of it, actually. so just bringing back this new variant, if we don't pay attention to where these variants are being created and watching the track record of how variants are being created every so many months, then we are completely blind. constantly crippling our economies and costs spreading.

it is purposely being put in nations that they have had problems with -- such as india, down near peru, ecuador, where they have had problems, because they are trying to outsource all of their fishing offshore's. it is the poor nations. so i am trying to bring that to everyone's attention, to watch its track record, to watch its future, of where everything is going, and the how this is going to consistently be created. these are not evolving things, because a covid takes a year, takes longer, a much longer time for anything to change. it does not happen overnight with so many months. the main thing is the track record of where was created. in addition to, i want to tell everybody, i took olive leaf -- it is a vitamin you can buy, like olive oil, and that will

clear infected lungs. host: let's go to conrad from philadelphia, pennsylvania. caller: good morning. i just want to say i don't understand why the president is blocking people coming from africa. over the weekend, you can get tens of thousands of people that may be infected, may not be infected, coming from africa. they want to save animals, save the dogs, but it seems like they don't want to save themselves. i don't understand that. if they don't want to get the shot or put the mask on, if they want to die, let them die. host: now, conrad, are you doing

anything different, because now the omicron variant is out there? caller: my wife had the coronavirus. we still wear our masks. i didn't get it. host: let's go to jay, who is calling from washington, d.c. caller: thanks, jesse. number one, it should be a nonprofit basis for creating the vaccine -- all companies have been affected by this globally. a global solution.

this. thank you so much. host: president biden spoke about the omicron variant. we want to bring that statement to you. "i am ordering additional air traffic restrictions that will take effect on november 29. as we move forward, we will continue to be guided by what the science and my medical team advise us. for those americans who are fully vaccinated against severe covid illness, fortunately, for the vast majority of our adults, fortunately, it is to get a booster shot as soon as you are eligible. this includes both children and adults. this pandemic will not end until

we have global vaccinations. it's time for other countries to match america's speed and generosity." let's see what some of our social media followers are saying about the omicron covid-19 variant. here is a tree that says usa economy is never going to recover from this. the world has found the biggest weakness in the usa, health-care and lousy politicians setting up wars over masks and vaccines. here is a text that says, i think as we take precautions with masks and vaccines, we will be fine. my only gripe is with those that refuse to take precautions and then blame others for situations they helped create and sustain.

here's a post on facebook that says every variant is less powerful than its present sensors. -- predecessors. they want to keep the fear going. another post on facebook says we need to stop bothering the ancient greeks with our problems and start naming these variants in honor of prominent anti-vaxxers. another facebook post is more concerned about go -- covid overreached van lockdown. another, not going away. 32 mutations is causing a knee-jerk reaction at this time. anxiety over this may just be too early. once again, we want to know what

you think about this new covid-19 strain that the world health organization has designated a variant of concern. are you changing any of your plans, because you know this variant is out there? let's talk to alex, who is calling from ashburn, virginia. alex, good morning. caller: yes, hi. vaccinated, and i think i was sick with coronavirus a long time ago because i lost tasting. i'm not vaccinating and i'm not going to. i believe in natural immunity. because the virus changes all of the time, we cannot beginning pigs to test a new vaccine and booster every year. they are human beings. i think we need to take it easy, ok?

we need to wear masks and keep the social distancing, but to do vaccination, no. just keep your system strong. there are many things you can do for this. host: is there anything they can say to you that will make you go get a vaccine? caller: no. [laughter] you mean who said? host: do you think the government or doctors can say -- anything the government or doctors can say to you to make you get a vaccine? caller: my doctor recommended me do the vaccine but i told him no, i'm not going to because i believe in natural immunity and strong immune systems that we need to create. instead of eating junk food, instead of doing things like alcohol, coffee, other things. we can improve our immune system , and this is the only way. host: let's go to helina from

maryland. good morning. . caller: yes. i think they need to close the borders down there and these eagles -- these illegals that they brought in, they have not taken their shots. they need to return them back to their country, because that is where all of the stuff is coming from. if we do not stop this, it is -- this virus is never going to stop. that is all i have to say. host: do you plan on changing any activities because of this new variant? caller: not really, but i have my shots, but the shot -- you still get sick from them but this is where this virus is coming from. people cannot realize that. these people need to stand up and we need to close the border and get these illegals back and quit dumping them over the united states. this has to stop now. host: let's go to tom calling from bethesda, maryland. good morning.

caller: good morning. i just wanted to come in on the conspiracy theories talked about here, how they have been saying spread by china or whatever. first off, why would they spread it into their own community, to have it destroy their own population and economy? and regardless of whether it was leaked from a lab or not, which is stupid, which is what one of your callers said earlier. i wonder if you meant that or new world order or whatever, conspiracy theories going on. the evolution of it does not take a year in order for it to evolve. if it is going rapid throughout the communities. -- rampant throughout the communities. i just wanted to voice my disapproval about these

outlandish conspiracy theories fueling people's ignorance. thank you. host: let's take a quick second to reset and see where the world and united states stands when it comes to coronavirus cases and deaths from covid-19. the johns hopkins university global tracker points out there have been more than 260 million cases of coronavirus across the entire world and more than 5 million deaths from covid-19 across the entire world. in the united states specifically, there have been more than 48,000 cases of confirmed covid-19 cases with right now there being 776,349 deaths directly confirmed from

covid-19 and all of its variants. as of today in the united states, there have been more than 770,000 deaths from covid-19, specifically from covid-19 in the united states. that is where we stand right now according to johns hopkins university. let's go back to our phone lines and talk to edgar calling from bridgeport, connecticut. edgar, good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, edgar. caller: thank you. i just wanted to thank you for the opportunity to talk. they are saying that if you give vaccinated you will be ok but it seems the whole country of coba cha was vaccinated but they have breakout cases. israel says those vaccinated are still contracting the virus. host: edgar, let me make sure

you understand what you are saying. no one has said getting a vaccine means 100% you will not get the coronavirus. what they are saying is it will be less severe if you have the vaccine. caller: but the problem is you are still able to spread it. so it is not stopping the spread. you know what i mean? i think we are never going to stop a new variant, because i don't think the government wants to lose control of what they have now, what they gain with this new vaccine. they managed to take advantage of the situation and put more control on the people. i am just really concerned that the variants are never going to stop. we will see one after another. that is my concern. host: let's talk to newman calling from san antonio, texas. good morning. caller: good morning. i am concerned about this new

virus. i am more concerned about -- i listen to all of your shows. some mornings you make me very angry when you let people call in like this last gentleman, going to spread false information. if they would listen to our doctors like one gentleman said, if we would get control of this -- they said when it first started, we will always have new variants popping up. same thing with the flu. every year they tell you to take the flu shot. it stops you from getting severely sick. i'm glad you did cut that dude off when he said that. this isn't 100% going to cure you, but this was you from going to the hospital or dying. what part of that do these people not understand? we live in a world where there

is all types of diseases popping up. if you do not want to take the shot, where the mask, do your social distancing and stuff, that is on you. i don't have a problem with that. but you should stay away from other people. we had somebody calling on the first thing out of her mouth was the border. why would you put this on the border? host: let's talk to maureen calling from massachusetts. maureen, good morning. caller: good morning. i just wanted to comment on the fact that we are closing the country to countries concerned about yet our borders are wide open. i just would love for someone to explain that to us. we are worried about masks, vaccines, boosters, being shut down again. i have a family member that

might possibly have their elective surgery canceled because of this variant being in the hospital. meanwhile, our southern borders are wide open but we are selectively closing our country. it does not make sense. that is my comment. host: with this new covid variant out in the world, it is already affecting stockmarkets and prices of oil and other stocks. here is the story this morning from the wall street journal. stocks, oil prices, and government bond yields slump after south africa raised the alarm over a fast-spreading coronavirus strain. triggering concerns travel restrictions and other curbs will slow the global economy's recovery. the dow jones industrial average fell 905.04 points or 2.5%.

it was the biggest one-day percentage drop from the dow since october 2020. the s&p 500 lost 106.84 points or 2.3%. the nasdaq composite dropped 353.57 points or 2.2%. it was the worst black friday session on record for all three indexes. markets closed early because of the holidays. u.s. crude oil tumbled 13% to 68 $.15. -- $68.15. bitcoin is following the path of other risk assets in its lower. "it is not a great day to woke -- wake up on black friday and see concern about a new variant."

a portfolio manager at easterly investment partners. we see stocks and oil prices dropping because of concern over this new covid-19 variant. let's talk to david calling from florida. david, good morning. caller: how are you? i'm just calling because i got a totally different take on this virus problem. in my mind, god will create the plants and universe, he put things in this earth that would take care of these viruses. we have polluted the earth, we put poison out everywhere, trying to kill bugs and whatnot, and i think it has tainted the system for taking care of these problems. now we are trying to explain why people are getting sick and going out of control with diet. that is my take on it.

host: on yesterday, dr. anthony fauci on cnn was asked about this new variant. here's what dr. fauci had to say. dr. fauci: -- >> explain to us the questions and the concerns about how this might evade immunity. there are some any mutations on the spy protein, which is what the vaccines that we have are designed to hit. the question is going to be, is that spy protein still permeable when it comes to the vaccine? dr. fauci: that is what we will be finding out, because when you look at a mutation, it can give you a hint or prediction that it might evade the immune response. what you need to do is get that particular sequence of the virus, put it in a form in the lab where you can test the different antibodies, so you can have a prediction it's might evade or you can prove it.

right now, we are getting the material together with our south african colleagues to get a situation where you can actually directly test it. right now, you are talking about sort of like a red flag that this might be an issue but we do not know. once you will test it, you will know for sure whether or not it does or does not evade the antibodies we make. for example against the virus through a vaccine or following convalescent after you get infected with anybody's. those anybody's protect you against the new virus. host: lawmakers have been speaking out about this new coronavirus variant. i want to bring you some of the tweets that have come out from lawmakers concerning the new omicron variant. representative kim box -- can box tweeted president biden --

mark meadows, i see restricting travel over covid is no longer racist or xenophobic. i wonder what changed. gop leader kevin mccarthy, each passing day we recognize the democrat plan for covid was to politicize and penalize, from vaccines to travel restrictions. what they said was once people is now prudent. their hypocrisy is studding -- stunning. this representative tweets hearing the news that a new covid variant has emerged in south africa, it is critical we get the recent covid surge in michigan under control. representative debbie dingell in a post last week requesting immediate assistance to fight covid in michigan. another representative, the omicron variant whatever happens when we do not stop the virus globally. that is why the wto had an average -- had any emergency meeting of the general counsel monday to adopt waivers. it is now postponed and the wto

shack now. and to remove big pharma's monopoly on these vaccines. as potus said, the wto must meet the u.s. challenge the way intellectual property protections for covid vaccines, so these vaccines can be manufactured globally. those are tweets from lawmakers from around the united states about the omicron variant of covid-19. let's go back to our phone lines and talk to kevin calling from maryland. good morning. caller: good morning, jesse. how are you? host: fine. go ahead, kevin. caller: i was wondering why you are saying more than 750,000 americans have died from covid. they have died with covid but that count includes people that have died from injuries that also have tested positive for covid. if you look on the cdc website, they give out those numbers.

the people that have died with covid have had an average of four comorbidities. host: are you saying you think johns hopkins university numbers are incorrect? caller: no. what i'm saying is the cdc has the numbers as well, but they are saying people died with covid, not from covid. some people died solely from covid, but that number that you gave out, they are not all dying from covid. host: ok. let's go to john calling from belleville, illinois. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: just fine. go ahead, john. caller: ok. my main concern is, will we ever get back to how we used to be? where we could shake hands, give

a person a hug, without any concern of being contaminated or susceptible to catching a disease that might kill you? everyone has the right to take the vaccine or not the vaccine. that is their choice. at the same time, if you do not take your vaccine, ok, and you are carrying the virus around in your body, it might not affect you or give you the sickness that it would give me, but because you do not want to take your vaccine or don't want anybody to make you do anything or tell you what to do because you want to be resistant, you can give it to me and kill me. i do not think anyone has the

right to do that to another person. as well, it is crazy -- it is not right for a person to -- people get angry. when biden said he was going to make it mandatory, that people take the vaccine, or everyone got in an uproar with that. being fired. i don't want anyone telling me what i have to do. the only way we will get rid of this disease is for at least 80% of the population, men, women, and children, to get vaccinated and quit passing it around. thank you. host: let's go to bill calling from syracuse, new york. bill, good morning. caller: good morning.

when i think of the vaccine, i think it will continue -- the disease will continue to grow and mutate as long as we have a large number of the population not vaccinated. i do not have the right to kill my neighbors. i do not have the right to drive 80 miles per hour on the freeway. there are a lot of things where the government does limit my freedoms for the benefit of the whole. that is what i think needs to be done, make the vaccine mandatory. put substantial penalties for not taking it and quite possibly we will be able to get through it with at least somewhat more deaths than we are now, but it is now and i make and it will be content -- it is now a pandemic and flu shots will have to be taken every year, hopefully not

more often. that is how we have to do it. thank you. host: let's talk to tom calling from california. good morning. caller: hello. i was critical of the republicans, you had posted their tweets, mark meadows and kevin mccarthy. in this sense, at the time the presidents, then former president trump, put a travel ban on, he was congratulating china, telling them how good a job they were doing, and he was also saying how much the coronavirus was under control in the united states, while at the same time lying, by evidence, to

the word word case. when the democrats were critical of the travel ban, they did not have the full story. that is all i wanted to point out, how hypocritical republican leadership that you posted, mark meadows and kevin mccarthy, were because president trump was out pushing a false narrative. the proof is through with the woodward case. host: there is a story coming out today about the plans in israel to put the country possibly back on lockdown again after it discovered its first case of omicron. i will bring the story to from the hill newspaper. "naftali bennett said on friday that the country is on the thrift hold of an emergency

situation after it detected its first case of omicron, the new south african strain of coronavirus. the israelis health ministry said it detected the new strain in traveler that returned from malawi and is investigating two other suspected cases. then it said the new variant is more contagious and spread more rapidly than the delta variant. he added the authorities are still gathering data on how effective the coronavirus vaccines will be against of the variant. "we are currently at the threshold of an emergency situation," he said per the ap. "i ask everyone to be prepared and fully join in the work around the clock." the minister said three cases were all in vaccinated individuals, though their inoculation details were still being verified. the times of israel said. once again, that is from the hill newspaper. let's go back to our phone lines and talk to sandra calling from

oscar, louisiana. good morning. caller: good morning. i am calling about the new covid strain. you don't hear this much, stuff like this, on the mainstream media. but apparently, the first four cases of this new strain, the first four people in botswana, had been fully vaccinated. so i know you have had an earlier caller that had mentioned being fully vaccinated does not keep you from getting covid or spreading it. now, i have this theory, my personal thoughts, that what is

happening is that people who are getting the vaccine, fully vaccinated, causes your natural immunity system to go down. therefore, when these new strains come up, you are going to get them because your natural immunity system cannot fight it. host: where did you hear that from, sandra? caller: i'm sorry? host: where did you hear that from? where did you hear getting the vaccine would make you more susceptible to the variant? caller: many, many doctors and scientists who are saying that the vaccine itself suppose -- supposed is going to harm and is

harming people's natural immunity system. this is not scientists or doctors from the cdc or fda, but they are world-renowned scientists. host: i have to say, sandra, i have not heard or seen any doctor or scientist say getting the vaccine will make you more susceptible to the new variant. we would like to thank all of our callers, all of our social media followers were a great conversation in that first hour. up next, after the break, we talk about the state of small businesses in the united states on this small business saturday. a conversation with shaundell newsome, cochair of the group, small business for america's future, will be coming up next. later, we take a closer look at foreign policy challenges facing the biden administration with mark leon goldberg, host of the podcast global dispatches.

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