The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

OPINION | The pandemic is being weaponized

2021-09-13T14:24:41.053Z


The US is one of the places where those who oppose measures against COVID-19 occupy positions of power and use the pandemic as a weapon.


Editor's Note:

Frida Ghitis (@fridaghitis), a former CNN correspondent and producer, is a columnist for world affairs.

She is a CNN contributor, a columnist for The Washington Post, and a columnist for World Politics Review.

The opinions expressed in this comment are yours.

See more opinions here.

(CNN) -

In all countries there are people who have doubts about the existence of covid-19, who are anti-vaccine activists or who reject the use of masks. The United States is not the only place where there are those who fear immunizers, are angry at the restrictions imposed during the pandemic, are open to wild conspiracy theories and distrust experts. But there is a key reason why the world's richest nation, home to many of the best public health experts on the planet, is the red-hot epicenter of a never-ending pandemic.

The United States is one of the few major countries in which people who oppose common-sense measures occupy positions of power, where they can shape politics, influence large sectors of the population, and weaponize the pandemic. their own political gain.

In Brazil, another place where this has happened, President Jair Bolsonaro, known as the Trump of the tropics, faces investigations for his policies with the pandemic and its catastrophic consequences.

  • ANALYSIS |

    Trump is showing how divisive a new race for the White House would be

Some in the Republican Party have made the new coronavirus crisis the vehicle they hope will propel them to new political heights.

As President Joe Biden tries to slow the deadly march of the virus, it is not difficult to see what lies behind his opponents' continued efforts to thwart the White House's plans.

It is a cynical game of unspeakable cruelty.

If Biden fails to contain the pandemic, their hope is that they can use that failure to gain control of Congress in the 2022 midterm elections, and pave the way for a Republican president in 2024.

United States President Joe Biden.

(Andrew Harnik / AP)

After Biden revealed his six-step plan against the pandemic, which is still in full swing, and which includes the obligation to get vaccinated, Fox News called him "authoritarian," and Republican officials vowed to fight his new terms in the United States. courts. It was another battle in his campaign to defeat Biden by undermining America's public health efforts.

Evidence of this strategy was visible at the Conservative Political Action Conference in July, when the crowd cheered after a speaker said the US government was failing to "dupe" people into getting vaccinated (Biden wanted get 70% of the population vaccinated with at least one dose by July 4, a goal the US reached a month later).

Imagine: they were actually cheering for the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, individual politicians are focused on advancing their own careers.

It seems like people like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis;

Texas Governor Greg Abbott and others are trying to outdo each other with measures that defy common sense.

One could be forgiven for thinking that they want the virus to win.

Their goal is to try to set themselves up as heirs to former President Donald Trump, who lobbied against the opinions of public health experts, motivated at least in part, no doubt, by fear of what the pandemic restrictions could do to him. the economy, and therefore his reelection prospects. Trump also urged his supporters to confront Democratic governors who were desperately trying to prevent hospitals and morgues from overflowing with Covid-19 victims. "Free MICHIGAN!" and "Free MINNESOTA!" he tweeted in capital letters, among many other inflammatory and damaging exhortations.

It seems that his would-be heirs took note of the way Trump's bravado attracted his followers, so now they are trying to appear tough and defend some twisted version of freedom, even if it may kill.

And it kills.

Former President Donald Trump.

The economy, by the way, will remain vulnerable as long as the virus thrives.

The only way to consolidate growth is to control the coronavirus.

Unfortunately, the threat from Covid-19 is now enormous, with some 150,000 new cases and 1,500 deaths a day.

It's hard to imagine so much heartbreak, especially when it can be prevented.

In fact, the situation could get worse.

Experts warn that the longer it takes to quell the pandemic, the greater the chance that a more contagious and vaccine-resistant variant will emerge.

To avoid this, we need common sense and discipline.

DeSantis leads the pack when it comes to fighting reasonable measures.

This supposed defender of the free market and business has proposed the toughest measures against protections to face covid-19.

Many Republican-led states - Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia, among them - have passed laws banning proof of vaccination requirements, but Florida was one of the first to tell companies how to run their business by prohibiting them from requiring so-called passports. of vaccines to clients.

In other countries, showing proof of vaccination in the midst of a pandemic is now routine.

After all, it makes perfect sense.

It encourages more people to get vaccinated, protects vulnerable individuals, and allows a certain semblance of normalcy to return.

Most importantly, it also helps companies stay open.

However, in the United States, raising vaccination requirements is politically explosive.

Even companies like the cruise industry, which see vaccination requirements as their only way to survive, have to contend with Florida's absurd and counterproductive regulations.

As the cruise industry tried to stay alive, DeSantis nearly sank it with an order that would have created fines of up to $ 5,000, per passenger, for requiring proof of vaccination, potentially putting millions in fines for each trip.

The order stumped people.

After all, one of the first things we learned in the early days of the pandemic is that on a passenger ship, Covid-19 can spread like a dry wood fire.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

The cruise companies sued Florida and won.

DeSantis is appealing the ruling, but in the meantime, other businesses could face fines of $ 5,000 for asking customers or visitors for proof that they are vaccinated.

The courts have also struck down Florida's outrageous ban on masks in schools.

Once again, DeSantis seems to have forgotten the old Republican passion for communities to decide what happens in their schools.

DeSantis even threatened to withhold funding and salaries for school officials if they defied his decree and required students to wear masks.

DeSantis is also appealing that ruling, but a judge ruled Wednesday that schools can ignore the governor's resources while the case progresses in court.

Losing the court battle, however, is no big deal for DeSantis, as long as he can enjoy the brilliance of his defiance.

Meanwhile, thousands of people get sick and hundreds die every day in Florida.

It's not just the governors, of course. There is the right-wing media machine constantly pumping out disinformation. Leading the charge is, of course, Fox News, which features popular anchors like Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham, whose shows are a showcase of material to undermine the fight against the pandemic. For example, they have said vaccines could be dangerous, touted unproven drugs, and lashed out at the use of masks as an unsustainable affront to freedom, disregarding the evidence that it helps save lives.

It seems that the aim of spreading all this misinformation and skepticism is to stoke mistrust in science and institutions so that figures on the right will raise their own position and, more importantly, undermine the Biden administration and thus strengthen electoral possibilities. of the Republican Party.

Gambling with people's lives for sheer political gain is a morally disgusting tactic.

Those promoting false cures and pushing against vaccines and masks to improve their political prospects are contributing to thousands more deaths, destabilizing the economy and preventing the rest of us from getting our lives back.

coronavirus Republican Party

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2021-09-13

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-04T05:21:33.913Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.