Coronavirus Freedom Day in California -- Well, Sorta.
It’s Official: COVID-19 Now Becoming a Republican Affliction
The state government’s tiered system of public health restrictions is mostly over. For those of you with short-term memory issues, two earlier efforts to scale down measures addressing the COVID-19 pandemic ended after new cases surged.
This time it’s different, we’re told, thanks to the success of vaccination programs. For months, California has had one of the nation’s highest vaccination and lowest positivity rates. One out of eight Americans live in the Golden State, whose economy generates 14.5% of the country’s gross domestic product.
One hundred million dollars in immunization incentives, including vaccination clinics throughout the state, are credited with allowing business, government, and social systems to begin the task of returning to whatever the new “normal” will be.
https://twitter.com/KFILE/status/1404444385496997895?s=20
It’s worth mentioning here that the actions taken by the state have been demonized at every turn to the point where Repubican are fantasizing about winning a recall election aimed at Governor Gavin Newsom.
They’re also using the occasion to spread misinformation about Vice President Kamala Harris, because they believe her melanin levels make for an easier target than ol’ Sleepy Joe.
https://twitter.com/GOP/status/1404525803031912448?s=20
So now that’s COVID 19 is (sorta) over, what else are Republicans going to do?
It's simple, really. The party of faux “freedom” is cool with allowing its followers to get infected to spite the Democrats. It’s a nationwide effort that’s been underway for a while now.
The COVID-19 pandemic is getting closer and closer to becoming a primarily Republican disease in this country. It can never be a fully Republican disease because the virus does not verify voting status, when traveling from one person's cough to the next person's lungs. But in places with high vaccination rates, herd immunity may soon come close to eradicating the virus by giving it few places to viably spread.
In pockets of vaccine resistance, meanwhile, whether it be Q-styled conspiracists, avid Trump supporters who still believe the pandemic is a hoax, or deplorables whose principle objection to getting vaccinated is that it appears to be what the liberals and book-learners want them to do, Americans are going to continue to die.
Six states — Arkansas, Florida, Montana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah — have enacted legislation to limit Covid shot mandates. The use of a document to prove vaccination status is unlawful in 11 states, according to the National Council of State Legislatures.
Arizona’s Gov. Doug Ducey is outraged and prepared to take action now that Arizona State University has announced a policy requiring students (with a few exceptions) to be vaccinated.
You don’t need to look very hard to figure out the political leanings of the states lagging in getting their citizens vaccinated.
From CNN:
The vaccine partisan divide among adults is greater than ever currently. As of Thursday's CDC report, 69.9% of adults in the average Biden-won state have received at least one dose, meaning those states have basically already reached Biden's goal with more than a little over three weeks to go.
Compare this to the states Biden lost and Donald Trump won, where an average 54.9% of adults have received at least one dose. The Trump-won states aren't anywhere close to where the Biden-won states are. You'd have to go back more than a month for the Biden-won states to be averaging a vaccination rate as low as the Trump-won states.
From Politico:
All but one of the 39 congressional districts where at least 60 percent of residents have received a coronavirus shot are represented by Democrats, according to a Harvard University analysis that presents one of the most detailed looks yet at the partisan split behind the nation’s diverging vaccination drive. By contrast, Republicans represent all but two of the 30 districts where fewer than one-third of residents have received a shot.
Finally, let’s not forget the folks who think their “freedom” not to mask up means everybody else should be endangered.
Airlines have now reported 3,000 cases of disruptive passengers to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) this year, and the vast majority -- 2,300 -- involve people who refused to wear a mask.
On Monday, a dispute over a mask at a Georgia grocery store led to a shootout leaving an employee dead and two others injured.
I’m sure there will be a wave of Republican revulsion as California rolls out an electronic system allowing businesses to confirm that their customers have received their shots. (It’s voluntary.)
FYI-- While California’s public health restrictions and mask mandate have been lifted, businesses can require customers to be masked. There are sure to be a spate of incidents involving would-be customers at retailers refusing to mask up for “constitutional” reasons.
I propose a special system for prosecuting those folks who think the police are their personal servants willing to tell store managers what to do:
Any penalty for misdemeanors in these cases (i.e., disturbing the peace, trespassing, etc.) should include a requirement for defendants to take and pass a US citizenship test.
The lifting of the mask mandate in indoor spaces does NOT apply to those who are not vaccinated.
Fully vaccinated people DO need to wear a mask inside in California:
On public transit (examples: airplanes, ships, ferries, trains, subways, buses, taxis, and ride-shares); in transportation hubs (examples: airport, bus terminal, marina, train station, seaport or other port, subway station or any other area that provides transportation)
Indoors in K-12 schools, child care and other youth settings. (Note: This may change as updated K-12 schools guidance is forthcoming from the CDC.)
Health care settings, which includes long-term care facilities
State and local correctional facilities and detention centers
Homeless shelters, emergency shelters and cooling centers
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Dana Carvey's impression of Joe Biden on The Late Show is totally worth seeing
https://youtu.be/vVbIL447bgQ?t=60
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Lead image: Willfried Wende via Pixabay