Over 18 months and over 700,000 deaths later, COVID-19 continues to be a means to separate the informed and dangerously uninformed segments of the population in this country. The state of Washington was one of a few states requiring all state employees to be vaccinated, unless they had an approved exemption. Monday was the deadline, and as The Seattle Times is reporting, 62,000 hardheads refused to be vaccinated and are facing job termination, although when and if that happens will likely require some mitigation of bureaucratic service concerns, although state government employment is probably bloated enough that a few people can be safely let go. One unvaccinated state employee quoted in the Times seems to believe she and others like her have a leg to stand on if they choose to file a lawsuit against the state if they lose their jobs.
One of the ongoing “dramas" here involved Washington State football coach Nick Rolovich, a supposed offensive “guru,” but certainly not up to “speed” as was the team’s previous coach, Mike Leach, who like many WSU coaches took the position either as a stepping stone to something better, or (like Leach) was in need of a job to “rehabilitate” himself after leaving his previous program in turmoil. Gov. Jay Inslee had mandated that all state employees—and that included athletic coaches in publically-funded colleges and universities—to be vaccinated by Monday. Back in July, the unvaccinated Rolovich had at first stated he would comply, but then claimed that he had filed for a religious exemption.
Not many found this to be “sincere;” Rolovich was raised a Catholic and had attended a Catholic school, and since Pope Francis has repeatedly urged his flock to be vaccinated, it was somewhat “ironic” that Rolovich has of late refused to identify himself as Catholic. USA Today reported that his former coach at Hawaii, June Jones, had urged him to comply with the vaccination mandate, but he stubbornly refused to listen. Yesterday, the school found that his quest for a religious exemption was not based on any credibly “sincere” belief, and announced not just his firing, but that of four of his assistant coaches who also refused to be vaccinated.
Other sports have their “problem children.” Quarterbacks Kirk Cousins and Lamar Jackson both claim it is a “personal” decision not be vaccinated, but again, this isn’t about “them”; in their positions on their teams, this is about showing leadership, and about the health of their teammates. The NBA has been more forceful about dealing with recalcitrant players; the Brooklyn Nets Kyrie Irving, whose refusal to be vaccinated is fueled by the usual bizarre conspiracy theories, was suspended by the team, since he could not be a “full performer” in a state that is now requiring all athletes and coaching staff to be vaccinated unless they have an approved medical or religious exemption; the team stated that it would hurt team “chemistry” if he was allowed to just play “part time.”
In regard to players who refuse to be vaccinated, former NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar told Rolling Stone that “There is no room in the NBA for those who are willing to risk the health and lives of their teammates.” In some locations, like San Francisco where the Golden State Warriors play, religious and medical exemptions have been banned, recognizing that such claims have usually been abused and have no merit.
Naturally there is plenty of “drama” going on elsewhere in the country. In Montana, the Daily Beast tells us that three prominent state politicians attempted to coerce hospital staff to give in to the demands of a patient to receive the anti-parasitic medication ivermectin, which “rumor” has it in anti-vaxx circles is “effective” against COVID. Doctors and nurses reported receiving threatens by the pols, who even called in a state trooper to provide added pressure. The state attorney general, Austin Knudsen, has even gotten into the act, “investigating” the hospital for allegedly violating the “rights” of the patient (an elderly woman), to take an unapproved, unscientifically-verified medication that would essentially be malpractice on their part.
Meanwhile in Alabama, which has the third highest COVID death rate in the country, Gov. Kay Ivey held a press conference denouncing Alabamans who refuse to be vaccinated for fueling the death rate. Of course when asked, she claimed not to know what else she could do to increase vaccination rates, given the refusal to issue mask mandates or other mitigations; we saw and heard what many Alabamans’ attitude toward vaccinations was during a recent appearance by Donald Trump, when after he advised his listeners to get vaccinated, many in the crowd hissed and booed. Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind.
In Mississippi, which has the highest death rate in the country, the governor merely reinstates or extends his “emergency decree” whenever needed. Like Florida’s desperately insane Ron DeSantis, Gov. Tate Reeves just pushes miracle “cures” and promises to “move” resources wherever necessary to make it look like something, anything is being done to minimize the catastrophe in the state. Not everyone is blind to what is going on in the state; the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure is threatening to revoke the license to practice from many doctors who have been promoting anti-vaccination conspiracies and anti-science medical “advice,” which “erodes public trust in the medical profession and puts all patients at risk.”
In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is accusing Fraternal Order of Police president John Cantanzara of “fomenting insurrection” among officers by advocating refusal to reveal their vaccination status—which is basically the same as admitting not being vaccinated—since all city employees have been ordered vaccinated. Cantanzara was a strange choice to head the police union, since his disciplinary record is checkered to say the least. Last week a judge temporarily banned Cantanzara from posting YouTube videos promoting vaccination and anti-government conspiracies. Lightfoot has called foul that officers have preferred following the orders of a “bad cop” instead of their own supervisors.
One of the more bizarre stories (if that is possible) is coming out of Alaska, where virus-denying state Sen. Lora Reinbold
recently contracted COVID and is quarantining herself. Reinbold first attracted national attention when Alaska Airlines banned her from any of their flights after refusing to comply with the mandate requiring the wearing of face masks. Reinbold had already been a running gag reel in Alaska; in April she was removed from her post of Senate Judiciary Chair after a bout of bizarre virus-denying that even the governor felt it necessary to send her a letter of reprimand. KTUU in Anchorage reported that during a Senate Health and Social Services Committee hearing, Reinbold made numerous crackpot claims that upset even her fellow Republican senators, and legislative staffers left because they felt it was not ‘safe” to be in the same room with the maskless Reinbold, who issued forth plenty of “breath” in the room arguing against any virus mitigation strategies.
Her Republican colleagues hoped that the “time off” would help her to “regroup,” but of course that didn’t happen. Soon afterward she was facing a lawsuit from a constituent who was one of many who were banned from Reinbold’s Facebook page for criticizing her virus-denying conspiracies. Then she was banned from Alaska Airlines after getting into an argument with an employee in Juneau over mask-wearing, which remains in effect through this coming January. Reinbold then spent some “quality” time doing something other than self-reflection at her home north of Anchorage, and was only “motivated” to make the 750-mile “trek” via car and ferry back to the state capital when she learned that the state legislature was voting on extending the state’s public health emergency in response to the pandemic. Upon arrival, Reinbold urged “every single legislator” to vote against it the bill, according to the Anchorage Daily News. She could have stayed home, since the measure was passed.
And now Reinbold is back in the news in the past week, admitting that she tested positive for the virus, and now it’s her “turn” to fight it “head on.” On her Facebook page, Reinbold is updating her fans on this “fight,” which has nothing to do with anything science, and mostly peddling snake oil “remedies,” which is just a rationalization for promoting more anti-vaccination and anti-mask shibboleths. She says she wants to do everything she can to stay out of the hospital because hospitals “seem like scary places these days,” no thanks to anti-mitigation attitudes like hers regarding COVID. Reinbold claims she is taking “tons” of various vitamins and zinc; a study from JAMA earlier this year found in a controlled study that increased vitamin and zinc intake had no effect on COVID. Depending on just how sick Reinbold is, it is entirely possible that she can “recover” without taking any such “medication,” and yet make the dangerous claim that it is a “cure” for “everyone.”
And so goes more episodes—to borrow from an old Carol Burnett soap opera parody—of “As the Stomach Turns.” Last night’s “episode” featured some guy who got on the bus and was told by the driver to put on one of the free masks the buses supply. Instead of putting it on, this jerk pulled out a sandwich and—ignoring the rule against eating on the bus—started chomping away, pieces of it falling out of his mouth in the nauseating way of Tony “Don’t You Ever Chew” Manero:
After that he took a nap sprawled across the seat, still no mask in sight.
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