Republican refuses to be vaccinated and dies from covid-19 1:57
[cnn-podcat episodeguid = 136cb8b0-20ac-4f04-9c62-ad7f00f2d2ff]
(CNN) - The
United States is forced once again to learn the same repeating lesson from the pandemic: Fighting a fierce and evolving virus with cynicism-laden policies rather than medical data only leads to the same outcome ... a prolonged national nightmare.
School-age children are the latest victims, while Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott, the Republican governors of Florida and Texas, prioritize ideology over public health guidelines. Governors are clashing with local officials who resist their decrees banning mask-wearing mandates in schools, which appear to directly contradict traditional conservative resistance to distant and centralized power.
The delta variant of covid-19 challenges the long-held belief that children are not affected by the coronavirus. The American Pediatric Association reported last week that the US saw an 84% increase in new COVID-19 cases among children from July 22 to 29, and Dr. Aileen Marty, an infectious disease expert at the Florida International University told CNN last week that children's hospitals in Florida are "completely overwhelmed."
As the delta variant sweeps across the country, especially in the least vaccinated Republican states, there are growing signs that leaders like DeSantis and Abbott are locking themselves into absolutist positions that they won't be able to dilute without serious personal and political harm.
But the price down that road is more illness and death in crowded covid-19 units among the people who chose them.
"For any other illness, you would not go to your political leader for medical advice," Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, told CNN's Pamela Brown on Monday.
"Politicians should let medical and public health leaders advance how to control this."
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Biden changes his tone and faces Republican governors over the rebound of covid-19
More than 98% of the US population lives in counties now considered to have "substantial" or "high" covid-19 transmission, according to analysis of CNN data released Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. US Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
But areas with high vaccination rates, most often run by Democrats, have so far done a better job fighting the variant.
The delta threat has also hit foreign governments, with some in Europe, Asia and the Pacific reimposing public health measures designed to slow the spread.
The irony is that by resisting similar measures, these Republicans have shown the true warnings from federal health officials that the delta variant poses a serious threat. Now the same dynamic may replay, as they ignore the CDC's advice that all children in schools should wear masks.
Both governors enjoy strong support in the conservative media.
DeSantis was recently celebrated by right-wing experts for his handling of the pandemic and is seen as a possible alternative candidate in 2024 if former President Donald Trump decides not to run again.
So their refusal to change course as conditions worsen only reinforces the impression that those who want a political future in the Republican Party must now demonstrate their disregard for common sense health measures, as surely as they must repeatedly demonstrate. his devotion to Trump.
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Florida children's hospitals are filling up
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DeSantis is fighting with several school districts that vow to challenge his ban on requiring masks for young children who cannot yet be vaccinated but are about to enter classrooms in the new school year.
Redoubling his position that parents, most of whom have no medical experience, should make final decisions about masks, DeSantis threatened Monday to withhold the salaries of school officials who challenge his mandate not to require masks.
This at a time when pediatric units in his state are filling up with young covid patients.
"Our pediatricians, the nurse's office, the staff, they are exhausted and the children are suffering, and it is absolutely devastating," Marty told CNN's Jim Sciutto on Friday.
"Our children are very affected. We have never seen numbers like this before."
DeSantis is also appealing a court order in favor of Norwegian Cruise Line that overturned its ban on passengers being asked for proof they are vaccinated before boarding.
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In Texas, Abbott asked hospitals Monday to delay elective medical procedures as COVID-19 spreads. Like DeSantis, he faces resistance from various school boards over his own decree prohibiting the mandates to wear masks in class.
Meanwhile, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is urging people to ignore the CDC's guidance on mask use in a new video full of misinformation about the crisis.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia boasted of Alabama's low vaccination rates.
As the delta variant rages and the number of cases nationwide increases from roughly 20,000 daily infections to 100,000 in a month, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said requiring masks in schools would have "negative consequences." .
These Republican politicians, and others, seem to be listening more to another possible 2024 Republican hopeful: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who recently accused them of lacking "guts" over the pandemic.
The insanity of Republican politicians using their power to counter the best advice from public health experts was criticized more succinctly by one of his fellow Republicans: Senator Bill Cassidy, a former physician representing Louisiana, a state where the Delta variant is charging a high price.
"Whenever politicians mess with public health, it generally doesn't work for public health and ultimately it doesn't work for politician, because public health suffers and the American people want public health," Cassidy told Dana Bash from CNN on Sunday.
"When it comes to local conditions, if my hospital is full, the vaccination rate is low, and the infection rate increases like crazy, we should allow local officials to make the best decisions for their communities," Cassidy said.
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Trump seeks to retouch his negligence in the face of the pandemic
Trump, meanwhile, has launched a new effort to tweak his own disastrous neglect of the crisis while in office.
In a Fox News interview over the weekend, he accused President Joe Biden, who has been pleading with the former president's supporters to get vaccinated and save themselves, of making the pandemic worse.
Trump and conservative media propagandists also falsely claim that the delta variant is being spread primarily by undocumented immigrants crossing the southern border.
A CNN analysis of CDC data suggests that 99.99% of the 160 million Americans who are fully vaccinated have not had serious COVID-19 infections, making the idea of any politician downplaying it. vaccines are even more egregious.
Throughout the nation's history, many of America's most difficult political issues boil down to the tension between the freedom of the people and the steps necessary to advance the collective good of society.
Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida set out on Monday the conservatively principled position that decisions about wearing masks and getting vaccinations should rest with individuals.
"When do we decide as American citizens that we will give the government the ability to tell us that we have to wear a mask or inoculate ourselves?" Scott asked at a news conference.
"That shouldn't be your responsibility. Your responsibility is to give me good information and let me make the damn decision."
However, Scott said he would not object to private companies refusing to serve or employ people who refuse to take such precautions.
These companies are demanding the covid-19 vaccine from their employees
However, the weakness of such a position in a pandemic is that it satisfies political rather than epidemiological questions.
This tension is constantly exploited by a virus that ignores the debate over government limits, but has an advantage when political divisions lessen the impact of public health measures.
'Don't get medical advice from the Florida governor'
The Biden administration, while presiding over the complete vaccination of half of American adults, is not blameless amid the political turmoil.
On July 4, the president made what appeared to be a premature declaration of partial victory over the pandemic and was guilty of conflicting messages about vaccines and masks in recent days that deepened the confusion. But unlike the Trump administration, the Biden White House has been willing to change course based on the facts and catch up with Americans on the true state of the pandemic, even if it risks harming it. to Biden's political position.
However, many of the most prominent voices on the right have clearly politicized the situation for their own personal gain. The result is devastating infections: Texas and Florida are setting the pace for the country with new infection counts and have overburdened hospitals. Florida registered 134,751 new cases between August 2 and 8, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University. Texas recorded 86,123 during the same period, more than 20,000 cases higher than any other state.
But despite these gruesome numbers, any turnaround on the part of the two governors now seems politically unpleasant, as their goals appear to be to please conservative-based voters who like to see them take on Biden and the leading disease expert. Infectious Government, Dr. Anthony Fauci.
In this, they are following the plan set out by Trump when he was president and mocking the wearing of masks, ignoring the virus for long periods and pressuring states to reopen before infections had subsided.
The hyper-politicization of part of the pandemic, including the vaccines that Trump greatly helped develop, puzzles many medical experts.
Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a renowned cardiologist at George Washington University, said in an interview with CNN's Jim Acosta on Sunday that if Florida were another country, the federal government might consider banning travel from there to the United States.
"Don't get your medical advice from the governor of Florida," Reiner said.
"He needs to understand that he has put himself in a dead end. People are dying in Florida. It's going to be a lot worse."
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Ron DeSantis' cynical stance on covid-19
While several potential future Republican presidential candidates seek political gains even in the most dire circumstances, others in the Republican Party are calibrating their comments in light of the deepening crisis.
Cassidy's comment on Sunday on CNN that "public health suffers" when politics is involved followed an admission by Republican Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson that he regretted signing a bill banning mandates for the use of masks earlier this year.
His change of mind came as cases of the delta variant increased in his state.
Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has called on Kentuckians to get vaccinated.
And Jim Justice, the governor of West Virginia, one of the most conservative and pro-Trump strongholds, said Monday that he did not want to impose the use of a face mask, but would eventually have to as the state was running out of time.
"You run a tremendous risk if you are not vaccinated," Justice said, displaying an unequivocal approach to the road out of the crisis that contrasts with the approach of Trump and other Republicans who are unwilling to spend their political capital to save their voters.
"I'm telling you as your governor, as your friend, as the person you really trusted - right now, you need to make this a number one priority in your life and run to get vaccinated," Justice said.
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