When the Omicron surge threatened to overwhelm hospitals and the number of infections greatly exceeded the quantities of anti-Covid therapies that might help keep people out of the hospital, the need to prioritize individuals at the highest risk was clear. Yet controversy quickly arose around what attributes — including race — might be used to evaluate risk and prioritize access to scare resources.
“The left is now rationing life-saving therapeutics based on race, discriminating against and denigrating, just denigrating, white people to determine who lives and who dies,” former President Trump declared at a rally in Arizona on Jan. 15. “If you’re white you have to go to the back of the line to get medical help!”