Corona Redux
Well, well, well. It seems that republican movers and shakers have discovered, on their own seemingly, that the delta Corona variant is primarily infecting their GOP voters? Because the majority of new Covid cases are impacting red states that have low vaccination rates. Who knew?
Does the abrupt turn about of recommending getting vaccinated for Covid, by minority leaders Kevin Mccarthy and Mitch Mcconnel, Steve Scalise of Louisiana, and other prominent GOP leaders, including FOX celebrities, signal a long awaited return to GOP sanity regarding public health issues? Or is it just a belated recognition of reality, that red state hospitals are filling with Covid patients?
In a classic example of victim blaming, clearly frustrated Governor Kay Ivy of Alabama said, “It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down.” She went on to declare, that “these folks (unvaccinated Louisianans) are choosing a horrible lifestyle of self inflicted pain…” How does criticizing the very people you are trying to help, motivate them to act in their own interest?
Covid infections have tripled in the past month, prolonging economic uncertainty. An estimated 97 percent of new hospital admissions are unvaccinated victims of Covid.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that some vaccinated Americans wear masks indoors again, particularly in crowded indoor settings. New Orleans and Los Angeles county have issued indoor mask advisories (not mandates) in response to the sudden increase in hospitalizations. Others like California, New York City and St. Louis require their indoor employees to be vaccinated; following the lead of private employers, who can mandate vaccination, and masks in appropriate circumstances.
Through out 2020 and until recently, red state governors purposely avoided instituting pandemic safety measures, or downplayed the importance for their constituents to protect themselves, because wearing a mask in public was a Democratic plot to curb everyone’s freedom? That political strategy worked, when New York was the pandemic epicenter. However, the virus doesn’t respect state borders. Covid doesn’t do politics.
It’s as if the past eighteen months of discrediting health expert’s warnings and not implementing measures to control the pandemic now can be swept away by blameless Trump sycophants, fresh from their road to Damascus revelation?
Arkansas Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson blames “myths” and Covid misinformation for the low vaccination rate in his state. Well, duh? “
“We’re doing all that we can,” Hutchinson said. But, he went on to explain how he was not doing all that he can. “And I made the decision that it’s really not what the government can tell you to do, but it is the community and their engagement and citizens talking to other citizens and trusted advisers, whether it’s medical community or whether it’s employers. Those are key.” Apparently, Hutchinson thinks it’s not a proper role of government to safeguard its citizens? But, he’s ok with leaving the heavy lifting to others?
Do we need a stronger word than hypocrisy to describe the politicization of a global health crisis?
Is that to be the model for future pandemics? Deny that there’s a problem, until the morgues are filled beyond capacity? Then say “don’t blame us, simply because we undermined the public’s faith in proven public health measures, because that was our political calculation at the time?” (sarcasm)
Will other monumental scientific achievements like world small pox eradication or polio eradication in the U.S. even be possible in a politicized post Covid world?
When asked by reporters whether they had been vaccinated, nearly half of House Republicans won’t say whether they are vaccinated against Covid-19, including GOP lumi