Republicans Are Determined to Make This Pandemic Last as Long as Possible
This week, Republicans went above and beyond, yet again, to show they don’t care who gets hurt in their quest for political points. They continued their war on science, attacking common sense measures that will help to bring about an end to this pandemic.
A year into President Biden’s presidency, as the administration does everything within its power to keep people safe, healthy, and bring about an end to this pandemic, Republicans are spreading disinformation, discouraging vaccines and testing, and working to undermine the administration’s response at every turn, all to score cheap political points. Their game plan hasn’t changed, and as a result their own constituents are dying as the pandemic drags on.
Just This Week:
In Florida, the director of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County was placed on administrative leave because he sent an email encouraging employees to get vaccinated. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a measure that prohibits government agencies from implementing vaccine mandates.
A day after a march against life-saving vaccine requirements organized by radical right-wing groups, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson plans on holding an event featuring some of the same people scheduled to speak at the earlier “Defeat the Mandates” march. Johnson’s panel is designed to continue the spread of disinformation and vaccine hesitancy and includes a researcher banned from Twitter, multiple conspiracy theorists, and a doctor forced to resign because he wanted to give his patients horse dewormer.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin kicked off his administration by ending mask mandates in Virginia schools, joining eight other Republican governors in putting educators and students at risk in order to pander to the most extreme elements of their base. Then, to follow up, he decided to release new guidance discouraging testing.
Last year Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt banned mask mandates in public schools. This week due to staffing shortages caused by teachers contracting COVID-19, Stitt announced he would sign an executive order allowing state employees to serve as substitute teachers, shuffling around workers due to his own failure to keep educators and students safe.
7 Ways Republicans Are Prolonging the Pandemic
- Republicans Are Paying People Not to Get Vaccinated: Republican governors and legislators in Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Arkansas and Tennessee have changed their unemployment insurance rules to allow workers who are fired or quit over vaccine mandates to receive benefits. In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis has offered cash bonuses to unvaccinated police officers who quit or are fired from police forces in other states. CDC data shows that unvaccinated adults are nearly six times more likely to test positive for COVID-19 and 14 times more likely to die from the virus compared to vaccinated individuals.
- Republicans Are Refusing to Promote Booster Shots: Republican governors including Gov. DeSantis of Florida and Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma have been scornful or silent about booster shots that have been proven to provide significant protection against the Omicron variant. Asked whether he had received a booster shot, DeSantis demurred saying, “So, I’ve done whatever I did. The — the normal shot, and that at the end of the day is people’s individual decisions about what they want to do.” Oklahoma Governor Stitt announced that he has no plans to get boosted, telling a reporter, “I’m perfectly healthy.” Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee used their official Twitter account to spread false information, asking: “If the booster shots work, why don’t they work?” The tweet was later deleted. And even former president Trump was booed after telling a crowd that he got an additional dose of the vaccines he considers great achievements of his administration.
- Republicans Are Filing Lawsuits Against Vaccine Mandates: More than two dozen Republican attorneys general are waging war on vaccine and testing mandates on at least three fronts.
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- At least 26 states filed suit against OSHA’s rule that would have protected 84 million American workers with a vaccination or testing requirement. The AMA and other respected medical and public health experts warned that ending the OSHA rule would “severely and irreparably harm the public interest.”
- More than 20 Republican AGs attempted to overturn CMS’s mandate that requires health care workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19. In the first year of the pandemic, more than 3,500 health care workers in the US died and tens of thousands more were infected and sickened.
- Nearly two dozen Republican attorneys general are working to block the administration’s vaccination requirements for federal contractors.
- Republicans Are Blocking Vaccine and Testing Requirements: The National Academy for State Health Policy found that nine GOP-controlled states have passed laws requiring exemptions for the federal vaccine mandate, or banning private companies from requiring vaccination altogether. Several states have made it easier for workers to claim exemptions from vaccine mandates, allowing them to decline on philosophical grounds or requiring businesses to accept all requests for religious or medical exemptions without proof.
- Republicans Are Launching Congressional Attacks on Vaccines: Republican members of Congress have filed at least 20 bills to block or roll back vaccine mandates. Every Republican member of the Senate has joined an effort led by Sen. Mike Braun to overturn the federal vaccine or test mandate using the Congressional Review Act, and nearly every Republican member of the House and Senate signed on to an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn OSHA’s vaccination or testing rule. Republicans like Rep. Nancy Mace and Sen. Ron Johnson have taken to the airwaves on Fox News and the Senate floor to promote the false idea that “natural” immunity acquired by getting sick is better protection than immunity provided by vaccines.
- Republicans Are Passing Bans on School Mask Mandates: At least eight Republican governors, including Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, have banned mask mandates in schools often putting them at odds with their own constituents and local school boards who want to protect students and teachers. Virginia’s new governor, Glenn Youngkin, wasted no time and signed an executive order banning mask mandates in schools as one of his first acts after being inaugurated. A study in Arizona found that mask mandates work and schools that required all students and staff on campus to wear face masks were 3.5 times less likely to have a coronavirus outbreak during the Delta variant surge than schools that didn’t implement masking.
- Republicans Are Rolling Back Local Public Health Powers: Republicans in at least 26 states have passed laws that permanently weaken government authority to protect public health. In Arkansas, legislators banned mask mandates of all kinds. In Idaho, elected county commissioners can now veto countywide public health orders. And in Kansas and Tennessee, school boards, rather than health officials, have the power to close schools.