State legislature leader Phil Berger knows better than dismissing public health officials’ advice on curbing the spread of dangerous delta variants, but Rockingham County Republicans are absurd in his party. I can’t resist appealing to distrustful elements.
Its weakness is Donation email He sent “guidance to ignore” under a reckless header on Wednesday. The guidance rejected by Berger was the CDC’s recommendation that all vaccinated and unvaccinated people resume wearing masks in indoor public places where coronavirus infection is fairly high.
The announcement was reversed Previous CDC statement Fully vaccinated people could easily go without a mask. But as Berger argues, whimsical advice, or, as his email said, as an example of “left-wing bureaucrats playing political games and trying to control American life.” , The switch didn’t work.
No, it’s Burger who plays political games. He is trying to take advantage of conservative resistance to public health guidance from the Biden administration. It tells us that he made his comments in a funding letter rather than in his official position. This was about throwing lean meat to the base in return for the dollar, rather than doing his job looking for the welfare of all North Carolinas.
But Berger’s reaction went beyond politics. He was opposed to messages from the CDC, not the DNC.When elected civil servants abandon the trust of public health professionals, they attack an important part of the state’s efforts to stop the pandemic that spent more. Life of 600,000 Americans..
Increased risk of variants
Senate leader ridicule email sent the day before The Washington Post reported Coronavirus delta variants can cause more serious illness, are more contagious than common colds, and only a small proportion of infected vaccinated people are unvaccinated An internal CDC document stating that the disease can be spread as easily as.
In North Carolina, the risk of infection with delta variants is clear. In North Carolina, new daily cases are increasing by more than 3,000. 1,100 hospitalized, A quarter of them in the intensive care unit.that’s all 57 percent The proportion of North Carolina residents over the age of 12 is fully vaccinated, and in some rural counties the proportion is fairly low.
In their honor, Berger and his Republican Speaker, Speaker of the House Tim Moore, have released a public service announcement urging North Carolina citizens to vaccinate. Their support may have saved lives. But Berger and other Republican leaders are also endangering their lives by fueling skepticism about the motives of public health authorities.
Cynic step
If Republican leaders don’t think masks are effective, they are free to say it, but they should still encourage compliance with mask requirements in public and private places. If they consider requesting vaccination to be a violation of personal liberty, they can claim it in court. However, it is ironic and dangerous to take additional steps to undermine nonpartisan public health professionals.
According to Berger’s email, the CDC’s advice to resume wearing masks warns against eating raw cookie dough as there is a risk of getting salmonella from raw dough eggs or E. coli from raw flour. Similar to The email says, “Of course, the CDC says you shouldn’t eat raw cookie dough, but I’ll ignore that advice.”
CDC’s advice on masks is wise, science-based, and evolving as more is learned about the behavior of delta variants. Public health authorities provide the best advice as quickly as possible.
Berger knows that, but when it comes to whiplashing election donations, he prefers to know nothing. In this case he is the one to be ignored.