Now is not the time to think that the American People have fully defeated the Coronavirus.
A majority of the country has not been fully vaccinated yet and viruses do not disappear.
Now is not the time for state and local leaders of both political parties across the county to relax COVID 19 safety measures.
There are rising levels of the Coronavirus in several states across the country with a quarter of the states seeing a rise in COVID 19 hospitalization rates.
You do not believe me?
Believe CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky who, at the Monday COVID 19 White House briefing, expressed personal feelings of “impending doom” because Americans were letting their guard down and ignoring pandemic mitigation measures with the spread of the more dangerous variants of the Coronavirus across the country. She urged Americans to “hold on a little while longer” (keep following pandemic safety protocols) and “work together now to prevent a fourth surge.”
Believe Dr. Anthony Fauci who shared similar talking points as Dr. Walensky when appearing on Face the Nation yesterday. He also warned that there may be a new COVID surge because of more dangerous variants and people starting to ignore Coronavirus safety protocols.
Believe the current President of the United States, Joe Biden, who echoed both Drs. Walensky and Fauci by pleading with all Americans “to do their part” and not “lessen our efforts or let our guard down” because “the war against COVID is not won yet.”
Saying we are “in danger of giving up on long-fought gains” against the pandemic, President Biden asked all people to maintain their resolve in combatting the Coronavirus by continuing to mask up and social distance.
He also called on all governors (hello Governor Ducey,) mayors, and business owners that have taken away their mask mandates to reinstitute them and halt full scale reopening efforts, saying:
“As I do my part on increasing vaccination supply, I need the American People to do their part. It’s the only way to get back to normal.”
With regards to vaccination supplies, Mr. Biden, accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris conveyed:
- 10,000,000 vaccinations were made over this last weekend.
- 75 percent of American Seniors 65 or over will have received their first vaccination shot by the end of this week. The President urged all remaining seniors to schedule.
- Vaccination supplies for 90 percent of all adults will be available by April 19, 2021.
- That there will be a vaccine site within five miles of 90 percent of Americans by April 19, 2021.
- The number of pharmacies offering COVID 19 vaccines will double in three weeks.
- There will be 12 more federally run vaccination sites set up across the country in the next three weeks.
- Millions of dollars will be spent helping transport seniors to vaccination sites.
- Vaccinations will be available for the remaining ten percent of Americans by May 1, 2021.
President Biden reflected that the progress in supplying and administering vaccinations across the county “is a great American story” and praised all stakeholders from “all walks of life and political parties, saying it is a “stunning example of what this country can do when we put our minds to it.”
He also said again that “we still need everyone to do their part and this war is far from won.”
Now is not the time to relax Pandemic safety measures when the country is so close to having vaccines for everyone.
Even then, people should still wear masks in certain locations and practice social distancing in certain circumstances because the virus, in several variants, will not go away.
For those readers that still think these worries are unfounded, please click here to read the accounting of the health care experts from the former Trump Administration.
They all mostly did a mea culpa on CNN last night, saying they were pressured by the former President and members of his team to minimize the dangers and severity of the Coronavirus Pandemic.
Surprise, Surprise. They lied to you.
It is time to believe and follow the scientific guidance of the people who are telling the truth right now.
Mask up. Social Distance. Wash your hands. Schedule a vaccination appointment when available.
Do your part to make sure everyone is safe in the country.
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The Washington Post’s Michael Gerson writes, “The GOP is facing a sickness deeper than the coronavirus”, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-gop-is-facing-a-sickness-deeper-than-the-coronavirus/2021/03/29/6addd488-90cd-11eb-9668-89be11273c09_story.html
It is the sign of a sickness deeper than covid-19 that the defiance of public health guidance has become a political selling point in the Republican Party.
In the not-so-distant past, Republican governors competed with their colleagues to author innovative welfare reform or criminal justice proposals. Now bad covid policy is a point of pride and a path to influence.
All pandemic policy involves a trade-off between the level of deaths and the level of commercial interaction. But concerning covid, Republican governors tended to put a greater value on economic activity than preserving the lives of the elderly and vulnerable (and others) when compared with Democrat-led states. In doing so, they elevated their views above the sober judgment of experts.
How is this performance by many Republican governors not discrediting, even disqualifying? Does it not concern people in GOP-led states that, at a key moment in the crisis, they were nearly twice as likely to die of covid than their counterparts in Democrat-led states? Why does it not generate more outrage that many Republican governors are continuing these policies even as infections spread and virus mutations accumulate?
Realistically, this is because the economic benefits of covid irresponsibility are immediate and obvious to everyone. And even twice a very small risk is still a very small risk. But this reasoning requires us to abandon our social solidarity with the elderly and vulnerable, who bear a disproportionate cost in Gov. Noem’s vision of liberty. And I fear it indicates a wide streak of social Darwinian callousness in the American right.
Meantime, the galaxy brains in the Arizona GQP Senate have voted to allow members to remove their masks, citing “muh freedumbs” and personal choice.
So I assume I’m allowed to set my own speed limits because I get to decide what’s safe.
Joggers, dog walkers, cyclists, and mom’s with baby strollers in Ahwatukee, you have been warned.