In Their Latest Attempts to Prolong the Pandemic, Republicans Are Lying About COVID Safety Measures and Incapacitating Public Health Experts
This week, Republican lawmakers across the country continued their mission of worsening the pandemic. Between fighting vaccination requirements and spreading misinformation, it has never been more clear that Republicans are willing to threaten the health and safety of every American as long as they believe it will help them in future elections. With the spread of the highly-contagious Omicron variant, it is essential to follow President Biden’s lead of getting more shots in arms and doing everything possible to protect the economy – but Republicans would rather create more chaos than serve the people they were elected to protect.
PolitiFact: Johnson Falsely Says Unvaccinated People Around The World Are Being Put Into ‘Internment Camps’. “‘I’m going to actually utilize my own freedom, my own health autonomy, and I’m going to choose not to get the vaccine, and now we are demonizing those people. Around the world, they’re putting them basically into internment camps,’ Johnson said. ‘What is going on?’…When asked for clarification on his remark, Johnson’s office told a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter he was referring to a COVID-19 quarantine site in Australia that requires residents returning from international travel to stay 14 days and be tested for the virus to ensure they aren’t bringing it back into the country with them.” [PolitiFact, 12/13/21]
The Kansas City Star: This Health Department Stops ‘All COVID-19 Related Work’ After Missouri AG Threat. “‘While this is a huge concern for our agency, we have no other options but to follow the orders of the Missouri Attorney General at this time,’ the department announced…It will no longer investigate COVID cases, contact-trace, issue directives for exposed residents to quarantine themselves or make public announcements of case numbers and deaths…Cases have been on the uptick in Laclede County…[AG Schmitt] wrote local public health agencies Tuesday threatening legal action if they do not drop mask mandates, quarantine rules or other public health orders.” [The Kansas City Star, 12/10/21]
The Daily Beast: This GOP Politician Wants To Turn You Into A COVID-19 Snitch. “Schmitt’s threats have already prompted at least half a dozen local health departments to say they have halted their COVID-19 response—a move that could only set Missouri up for more disaster both inside and outside classrooms. Some school districts have also already decided to drop their mask mandates and ease quarantine rules after trying to interpret the order in Schmitt’s letter.” [The Daily Beast, 12/16/21]
KRGV: Texas Governor Greg Abbott Refuses To Enforce National Guard Vaccine Requirements. “I issued Executive Order GA-39, which commands that ‘[n]o governmental entity can compel any individual to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.’…The State of Texas will not enforce this latest COVID-19 vaccine mandate against its guardsmen.” [KRGV, 12/16/21]
New York Times: Five Republican Governors Seek Vaccine Exemptions, Escalating A Fight With The Pentagon. “Governors from five states have written a joint letter to Lloyd J. Austin III, the defense secretary, asking that their National Guard troops be exempted from a federal coronavirus vaccine mandate, greatly escalating what had been a single state conflict over inoculations. ‘Setting punishment requirements for refusing to be Covid-19 vaccinated, and requiring separation from each state National Guard if unvaccinated are beyond your constitutional and statutory authority,’ wrote the governors of Alaska, Wyoming, Iowa, Mississippi and Nebraska, all Republicans, to Mr. Austin, and asked that their states be given an exemption from the requirement. The Pentagon has yet to respond to the letter, which was dated Tuesday. Last month, the Defense Department rejected an attempt by Kevin Stitt, the governor of Oklahoma, to exclude the state’s National Guard from the mandate, setting the stage for Guard members in the state to lose their jobs should they refuse. The department this week released a new order noting that all guard members who do not get vaccinated will receive a general order of reprimand, which would essentially end their career.” [New York Times, 12/15/21]