Why we can’t have nice things:
Two House GOP members are there via special election because their predecessors died from COVID after the 2020 election.
Yet, fewer than half are vaccinated (or willing to admit they're vaccinated). https://t.co/mALtv6f9LI
— Max Kennerly (@MaxKennerly) May 14, 2021
And when the adults have to take precautions with children acting like little whiny assholes — via Salon this evening:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is requiring that all members in the House of Representatives continue wearing masks, despite new guidance from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that indoor mask-wearing is no longer necessary.
The revelation came during a Thursday press conference when a CNN reporter asked whether the House would now lift its mask mandate in light of the CDC’s new guidelines.
“No. Are they all vaccinated?” Pelosi clapped back.
Capitol Attending Physician Brian Monahan later confirmed the veracity of Pelosi’s statement in a memo, which revealed that “the present mask requirement and other guidelines” would “remain unchanged until all Members and floor staff are fully vaccinated.”
Back in March, Axios reported that about a quarter of the House had “either refused to be vaccinated, are avoiding it due to medical conditions or have not reported getting one.”
In April, Pelosi said she wouldn’t be enforcing a vaccination mandate for members of the House.“We cannot require someone to be vaccinated,” she told reporters at the time.
“That’s just not what we can do, it is a matter of privacy to know who is or who isn’t. I can’t go to the Capitol physician and say, ‘Give me the names of people who aren’t vaccinated so I can go encourage them to,’ or make it known to others to encourage them to be vaccinated.”Pelosi’s remarks sparked predictable outrage from several of her Republican colleagues.
“It’s about control,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said in a Fox News interview on Thursday evening.
“She wants to control the House.”
…
Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, who led the charge against Pelosi, called her refusal to lift the mandate “Mask-erpiece Theater.”“Based on sound science, the CDC says those who are vaccinated have an incredibly low risk of becoming infected with coronavirus,” Gibbs said in a statement.
“With that data, there is no reason the House of Representatives should not be fully open and returned to normal operations.”Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., echoed Gibbs on Fox News, complaining that’s Pelosi’s requirement is “a dumb rule to have.”
Probably Donalds (what a f*cked name), because you’re dumb. Reality of the pandemic revealed just how opposite to good health is the Republican brand — T=Rump got vaccinated in secret — and although the orange-turd loser “would recommend it,” he hasn’t out-loud said if he’d been jabbed.
GQPers are notoriously hardcore anti-vaxxers — from BusinessInsider thia morning on the Congressional vaccination data:
Every single Democratic lawmaker in the House and Senate says they’ve received a COVID-19 vaccine, according to a new CNN survey. Things are quite different on the other side of the aisle.
Just 45% of House Republicans say they’ve been vaccinated. A much higher percentage of Republicans in the upper chamber say they’ve received vaccinations, but four GOP senators either said they won’t get the shot or wouldn’t reveal the information.
Overall, about 72% of House lawmakers say they’ve been vaccinated — 312 of the 431 members. Ninety-five GOP House members told CNN they’ve gotten the shot, 112 didn’t respond to multiple inquiries, and five members confirmed they haven’t been vaccinated or didn’t want to reveal whether they had.
“I’m not going to talk about it. I don’t think anybody should have to share their personal, private medical information with anybody,” said Rep. Greg Steube of Florida.
…
Opposition to the COVID-19 vaccines is particularly widespread among conservatives. 43% of Republicans said they would probably never get the vaccine, according to an April Monmouth poll. Vaccination rates are particularly low in counties that voted for Trump in 2020.Public health experts say that a combination of vaccine hesitancy, lack of access to the shot, and the growth of new variants will make achieving herd immunity in the US unlikely or even impossible.
You can see the problem inlaid by these Republicans’ nit-twitted blatherings about ‘freedumbs’ and the split in the social order between the vaccinated and the not-vaccinated, which can maybe ultimately mean life or death.
Leana S. Wen, a visiting professor at George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, and author of, “Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for the Public’s Health,” wrote yesterday about the vaccination-gap at The Washington Post and the dangers of the CDC’s new rules on masks — main point: ‘This announcement would be very welcome if not for one big problem: There is no concurrent requirement for proof of vaccination. Without it, the CDC announcement could end up increasing confusion, removing incentives for those yet to be inoculated and delaying the eventual goal of herd immunity that would get society truly back to normal.‘
All this would be comedy if it weren’t so freaking dangerous.
And maybe as an explanation — saw this on reddit today:
Crazy, but way-true.
