Reports Of Omicron Take Massive Dive As Life Bustling Again In South Africa

South Africa has already taken a massive dip in reported Omicron cases, and according to CBS News, business there is booming again.

In other words, the COVID-19 variant has dipped as sharply as it surfaced in the nation where it is believed to have begun, just before December.

That's probably good news for the rest of the world, including the U.S., where COVID and its variants have dominated the news cycle and the ensuing fears.

"Omicron quickly became the focus of global anxiety as infections spread across South Africa with ferocious speed. Within days, the country was at the epicenter of the pandemic. And then… well, not much happened at all," MSN wrote.

Reports of Omicron first surfaced eight weeks ago, but it appears that so-called storm has been weathered, with MSN relaying that in Johannesburg, "restaurants are busy again, traffic is jammed, and the city is bustling."

All of this is leading to optimism that the pandemic slowly but surely is nearing its end, thanks to collective immunity.

"I'm highly optimistic that we have reached a turning point in this pandemic," South African vaccine expert and professor Shabir Madhi told CBS. "I can't see us revisiting what we experienced during the course of the first three waves in South Africa."

It's not just South Africa that's seeing improvement, either. The same thing seems to be going on in England.

"We're almost there, it is now the beginning of the end, at least in the U.K.," Professor Julian Hiscox, head of infection and global health at the University of Liverpool told BBC News. "I think life in 2022 will be almost back to before the pandemic. ... "Should a new variant or old variant come along, for most of us, like any other common cold coronavirus, we'll get the sniffles and a bit of a headache and then we're OK."

It will be real interesting to see how the U.S., and particularly the mainstream media, will react to this news. It would, after all, be quite an adjustment from the 24/7 coverage and fear-mongering that the media continues to push today.