Its new guidance says people who test positive for COVID can end their isolation (or quarantine or whatever is the word of the week to explain how to stay away from people) after five days rather than 10 if they’re asymptomatic. They don’t need to test their way out.

How could this be, when we’re in the middle of the biggest surge in COVID cases since the pandemic’s start? The surge is the reason.

Omicron is moving so fast and is structured in such a way that it eludes containment — and given its speed, pursuing such containment would require measures that would make the lockdowns of spring 2020 look like Times Square during the ball drop.

What’s key here is the implicit acknowledgment that Omicron is far less damaging than its predecessor, the Delta variant. And the danger recedes the more vaccine you’ve gotten.