Coronavirus, Monkeypox, and Other Contagious Diseases

[LFC]

Members of the f***wit brigade continue to march our country off a cliff. Trump's "demon sperm" "doctor" is still at it with a group of cranks.

A fringe, pro-Trump medical group perhaps best known for featuring a notorious coronavirus truther fixated on the alleged medical dangers of demon sperm filed a motion demanding the pause of COVID-19 vaccinations in the United States on Monday.

Among other wild assertions in the predictably absurd document, the motion seeking an injunction filed by “America’s Frontline Doctors” falsely claims the three vaccines authorized for emergency use in the U.S. do not actually curb the spread of the deadly virus. Also: that the coronavirus is not a public health emergency. This being the same pandemic that has killed over 600,000 Americans while showing signs of a nationwide resurgence in recent days with the extra-contagious Delta variant, which is almost exclusively harming unvaccinated people.

But the crazy doesn’t stop there. The fear is that a motion like this one, which may be legally hopeless but is targeted at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, could have a real and pernicious impact as the Biden administration battles vaccine disinformation nationwide.

Here's one that got smacked hard enough they decided to apologize. Who knows if they mean it.

A chiropractor for the U.S. women’s Olympic wrestling team apologized for her “poor judgment” in posting a meme that suggested COVID-19 safety measures were akin to tactics used in Nazi Germany. “We went from ‘Flattening the curve in 14 days’ to ‘Going door-to-door to see your papers’ ... Gotta admit, I did N-A-Z-I that one coming,” the message posted to Rosie Gallegos-Main’s Facebook and Instagram accounts read. On Wednesday, the chiropractor sent a letter to the USA Wrestling Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, saying she “did not put any thought into how the ending of the meme might affect others.” “I will never use this word again in any form that does not have a proper foundation for its usage, such as in a history lesson or in educating people about the past,” she added. Gallegos-Main will continue on at the wrestling team’s pre-Olympic training camp in Japan, but must complete a course on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

[LFC]

Here come multiple reboots of the Sturgis style super-spreader event.

In a display of total sanity amid an alarming COVID outbreak, the organizers of the annual Birthplace of Route 66 Festival in Springfield, Missouri, have voted unanimously to cancel the annual event for a second year.

“With our region’s low vaccination rate against COVID-19, the resulting surge of infections are overwhelming our hospitals and making our community sick,” said Cora Scott, Springfield’s director of public information and civic engagement, in the July 12 announcement. “We feel it is just not safe to bring tens of thousands of people from all over the world to this community for any reason.”

But from July 29 to Aug. 7, there will be a display of total insanity in Springfield.

Bad enough that the Ozark Empire Fair went ahead last year when much of the country was closing down. Things are better elsewhere, but they are worse than ever in this area and yet the fair is doing it again this year. Never mind that the Delta COVID-19 variant is rocking Springfield-Greene County with its highest number of COVID hospitalizations in the pandemic—259 with “severe illness” by Tuesday’s count, more than 90 percent of them unvaccinated.

[Rue Bella]

“With our region’s low vaccination rate against COVID-19, the resulting surge of infections are overwhelming our hospitals and making our community sick,” said Cora Scott, Springfield’s director of public information and civic engagement, in the July 12 announcement. “We feel it is just not safe to bring tens of thousands of people from all over the world to this community for any reason.”

Wonder if she'll be fired soon.

Bad enough that the Ozark Empire Fair went ahead last year when much of the country was closing down. Things are better elsewhere, but they are worse than ever in this area and yet the fair is doing it again this year. Never mind that the Delta COVID-19 variant is rocking Springfield-Greene County with its highest number of COVID hospitalizations in the pandemic—259 with “severe illness” by Tuesday’s count, more than 90 percent of them unvaccinated.

Too bad the death rate is so low. Some having to live with Long Covid for an undetermined length of time will have to suffice. Too bad about all the collateral damage to innocents however. 

[pnwguy]

Jul 21, 2021 16:44:09 GMT Rue Bella said:

Too bad the death rate is so low. Some having to live with Long Covid for an undetermined length of time will have to suffice. Too bad about all the collateral damage to innocents however

Except that their medical costs, rehab, and disability claims will tax the sane rest of the country

[Traveler]

Jul 16, 2021 19:32:22 GMT @probabilistic3 said:

Fox News' vaccine outreach is perfectly worthy of Republicans. If by now Republicans haven't cottoned on to the importance of getting inoculated, they need neocortex replacement more than vaccines.

I thought that would be a good intro to today's developments.  

A growing number of top Republicans are urging GOP supporters to get vaccinated as the delta coronavirus variant surges across the United States, marking a notable shift away from the anti-vaccine conspiracy theorizing that has gripped much of the party in opposition to the Biden administration’s efforts to combat the virus.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was part of the rising chorus on Tuesday, stressing the need for unvaccinated Americans to receive coronavirus shots and warning that the country could reverse its progress in moving on from the pandemic.

“These shots need to get in everybody’s arm as rapidly as possible, or we’re going to be back in a situation in the fall that we don’t yearn for, that we went through last year,” McConnell said during his weekly news conference. “I want to encourage everybody to do that and to ignore all of these other voices that are giving demonstrably bad advice.”
The remarks from McConnell followed comments in recent days from other top Republicans and from conservative voices urging people to get vaccinated, even as other members of the GOP continue to sound notes of skepticism and spread misinformation about the safety and efficacy of the vaccines.

Among the most notable voices was Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican in House leadership, who received his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine over the weekend and urged others to follow suit. Scalise had long resisted vaccination, claiming protection from antibodies and saying earlier this year that he wanted to ensure his constituents had a chance to be vaccinated first.

In an interview Tuesday, Scalise said that “there shouldn’t be any hesitancy over whether or not it’s safe and effective.” He said that he was compelled to get the shot in light of the recent spread of the delta variant and the associated spike in cases — and that politics was not a consideration.
[...]
And on the airwaves, some Fox News hosts who have helped amplify skepticism about the vaccines’ efficacy and slammed the idea of vaccination mandates by businesses are now pushing their viewers to get vaccinated immediately.

“I can’t say it enough. Enough people have died. We don’t need any more death,” Sean Hannity, who previously called the virus a hoax, said Monday on his broadcast. “And it absolutely makes sense for many Americans to get vaccinated. I believe in science. I believe in the science of vaccination.”

Too little, too late.  In Clay Co. where on of our projects is located, cases went from 11/100k four weeks ago to 102/100k last week.  Positivity now over 18%.   In contrast, Chester Co got down to 3/100k, ramped up to 10 this week, and now dropping back a little.  Seems like vaccinations without maggots around work.  

[Rue Bella]

A growing number of top Republicans are urging GOP supporters to get vaccinated as the delta coronavirus variant surges across the United States, marking a notable shift away from the anti-vaccine conspiracy theorizing that has gripped much of the party in opposition to the Biden administration’s efforts to combat the virus.

The day when the market dropped drastically has been noticed more by the 'money' Republicans than 600,000 old folks dropping dead from COVID (and dropping out of Medicare/SS aka Win-win).

The GOP has not minded using the idiot evangelicals and racists and willfully ignorant to get elected... but when it comes to their own coffer$, when it becomes necessary, they'll reluctantly try to adjust the course to get the spigots flowing again. Hey, stupid people who blindly vote for us, get vaccinated!

But, hey, who's bitter?

[goldenvalley]

Fox noticed that their viewership was going to dramatically decrease if their loyalists catch the Delta variant. It was all fine when only very old and people in urban areas were dying last year, but now it's different.

[Bact PhD]

Jul 21, 2021 18:38:28 GMT Traveler said:

Jul 16, 2021 19:32:22 GMT @probabilistic3 said:

Fox News' vaccine outreach is perfectly worthy of Republicans. If by now Republicans haven't cottoned on to the importance of getting inoculated, they need neocortex replacement more than vaccines.

I thought that would be a good intro to today's developments.  

Too little, too late.  In Clay Co. where on of our projects is located, cases went from 11/100k four weeks ago to 102/100k last week.  Positivity now over 18%.   In contrast, Chester Co got down to 3/100k, ramped up to 10 this week, and now dropping back a little.  Seems like vaccinations without maggots around work.  

Agreed re the "too little, too late" sentiment. Clay County, Flori-DUH, Traveler? Not far from me, where our 7-day average (per NYT) of 53/day corresponds to 19.8/ 100K, whereas a month or so ago we were below 10/100K.

The schools in the rural counties open the week of August 9; our county goes back to classes the week of the 16th; Dear Son goes back the 18th. And the college kids return en masse in that same time frame.

Goody.

[LFC]

I think this is a good indication of how filled the NYPD is with MAGAts.

Interesting and disappointing news that the NYPD uniformed and civilian workforce significantly lags the city’s rate of vaccination. An NYPD spokesperson told the New York Post that 43% of the agency’s workforce has been vaccinated. The city’s rate is 53%. Obviously not all city cops live in New York City. But the vaccination rate in the state overall is even higher – 56%.

The most obvious explanation is that the NYPD leans right and Trumpish right relative to the city population. It would be surprising if rightwing skepticism of vaccines didn’t translate into lower vaccination rates.

But this is also a pretty big failure of leadership on the part of the NYPD brass. Police are first responders. In the nature of their work they routinely interact, often in close quarters, with the population at large. And frequently you don’t have a choice whether to interact with them or the proximity of the contact. Police also routinely act as accessory personnel in medical emergencies. Police aren’t ordinary civilians to whom we give a wide berth to make personal medical decisions. As with health care workers, police officers should be required to be vaccinated, unless there is a real and tangible clinical reason they cannot be.

[LFC]

Here's one doctor's stories in Alabama. This is just pathetic.

Dr. Brytney Cobia said Monday that all but one of her COVID patients in Alabama did not receive the vaccine. The vaccinated patient, she said, just needed a little oxygen and is expected to fully recover. Some of the others are dying.

“I’m admitting young healthy people to the hospital with very serious COVID infections,” wrote Cobia, a hospitalist at Grandview Medical Center in Birmingham, in an emotional Facebook post Sunday. “One of the last things they do before they’re intubated is beg me for the vaccine. I hold their hand and tell them that I’m sorry, but it’s too late.”

Three COVID-19 vaccines have been widely available in Alabama for months now, yet the state is last in the nation in vaccination rate, with only 33.7 percent of the population fully vaccinated. COVID-19 case numbers and hospitalizations are surging yet again due to the more contagious Delta variant of the virus and Alabama’s low vaccination rate.

In the United States, COVID is now a pandemic of the unvaccinated, according to the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Alabama, state officials report 94% of COVID hospital patients and 96% of Alabamians who have died of COVID since April were not fully vaccinated.

“A few days later when I call time of death,” continued Cobia on Facebook, “I hug their family members and I tell them the best way to honor their loved one is to go get vaccinated and encourage everyone they know to do the same.”

“They cry. And they tell me they didn’t know. They thought it was a hoax. They thought it was political. They thought because they had a certain blood type or a certain skin color they wouldn’t get as sick. They thought it was ‘just the flu’. But they were wrong. And they wish they could go back. But they can’t. So they thank me and they go get the vaccine. And I go back to my office, write their death note, and say a small prayer that this loss will save more lives.”

More than 11,400 Alabamians have died of COVID so far, but midway through 2021, caring for COVID patients is a different story than it was in the beginning. Cobia said it’s different mentally and emotionally to care for someone who could have prevented their disease but chose not to.

“You kind of go into it thinking, ‘Okay, I’m not going to feel bad for this person, because they make their own choice,’” Cobia said. “But then you actually see them, you see them face to face, and it really changes your whole perspective, because they’re still just a person that thinks that they made the best decision that they could with the information that they have, and all the misinformation that’s out there.

“And now all you really see is their fear and their regret. And even though I may walk into the room thinking, ‘Okay, this is your fault, you did this to yourself,’ when I leave the room, I just see a person that’s really suffering, and that is so regretful for the choice that they made.”

[Traveler]

So hard to feel sorry for them.

[Rue Bella]

Interesting and disappointing news that the NYPD uniformed and civilian workforce significantly lags the city’s rate of vaccination. An NYPD spokesperson told the New York Post that 43% of the agency’s workforce has been vaccinated. The city’s rate is 53%. Obviously not all city cops live in New York City. But the vaccination rate in the state overall is even higher – 56%.

This is both surprising and sad. New York was one of the major COVID hots spots in the beginning of the pandemic. Things were dire. Hospital ships, pleading with Trump for help, Cuomo begging for ventilators...  When vaccines came along it would seem a no-brainer to get them, especially for first responders who had seen so much just months before.

[LFC]

More on the Southern anti-vax death cult known as the Republican Party.

I thought I was done with poring over COVID case data. Things change.

I took a look at what is happening in the US on a state by state basis. It’s stunning to see. The best metric for prevalence of COVID is number of cases adjusted for population. Specifically, I’m looking at the number of new cases over a seven day period per 100,000 residents. Through this prism the crisis is overwhelmingly concentrated in three contiguous states along the Mississippi River: Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana. Plus Florida.

Florida bulks larger in the actual toll of the disease because it’s a much larger state. But the per capita metric is very similar in all four states. Missouri (245), Arkansas (267), Louisiana (228), Florida (264).



As you can see from this CDC infographic, Nevada and Mississippi looks pretty close. But they’re not that close. 181 and 165, respectively. Those four states are really in a category of their own.

The case rates track broadly with levels of vaccination. The Deep South has some of the lowest rates of vaccination and they’re getting hit the hardest. Meanwhile rates in the Northeast are about 1/10th what they are in Florida and those three Mississippi River states. But this shouldn’t prompt either a sense of superiority or relative safety. California is only a bit behind New York on vaccinations but their case rates are much higher. Florida’s rate of vaccination isn’t as low as you might think, certainly not so low as to explain the high case load on its own. Clearly there’s an interplay of vaccination density, mitigation and regionality.

It’s also true that in the mass vaccination era cases no longer track with disease severity and mortality. But in the hard hit states deaths are mounting rapidly.

[AnBr]

Interesting how that map has DC and Puerto Rico included with the non-contiguous states, while the other territories are not.

[LFC]

Jul 22, 2021 23:26:15 GMT AnBr said:

Interesting how that map has DC and Puerto Rico included with the non-contiguous states, while the other territories are not.

Per Wikipedia DC has nearly 700,000 residents so bigger than Wyoming or Vermont. PR has nearly 3.3M people so bigger than 21 states including (in reverse order) Utah, Iowa, Nevada, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kansas, New Mexico, Nebraska, ...

[AnBr]

I realize that, but other infographic maps that enlarge DC also usually enlarge other small states like RI. And that it includes PR as well. Ready for a 52 star flag?

[LFC]

Jul 22, 2021 23:58:13 GMT AnBr said:

I realize that, but other infographic maps that enlarge DC also usually enlarge other small states like RI. And that it includes PR as well. Ready for a 52 star flag?

MORE than ready.

[Deleted]

[Traveler]

Projections.   Graphs. 

[LFC]

We have two idiots (one and two) who got sick and came around. Good for them.

A 41-year-old Florida veteran regrets avoiding the vaccine after he and his wife became ill with the coronavirus.

James Owen, of Jacksonville, thought he had a hangover after hosting a Fourth of July party, but he quickly became too sick to breathe and wound up in the hospital, where he remains a week later, reported WJAX-TV.

"Last week the ambulance had to come to the house," Owen said. "My lungs had completely locked up."

Dozens of COVID-19 cases have flooded the University of Florida Medical Center, where coronavirus patients have tripled in the past two weeks and taken over two-thirds of the hospital's beds -- surpassing the pandemic peaks set in January.

"We had 125 cases on any given day," said Chad Nielsen, an infectious disease expert at the hospital. "We surpassed that several days ago."

Most of the patients were unvaccinated like Owen, who didn't expect to become so ill from the virus.

"After seeing the way it has beaten me down like this to next to nothing," he said, "I'm definitely for the vaccination now."

Donald "Frue" McAvoy was healthy and young, so he decided the COVID-19 vaccine wasn't necessary, but that's all changed after he was hospitalized with a severe infection, reported WJAX-TV.

"I was skeptical," he said. "I was like, 'Eh, don't get it, I don't need it -- I'm healthy, I'm young, I'm good, I'm okay."

But the 33-year-old gym manager tested positive on June 24, and he was hospitalized a couple of days later and eventually moved to the intensive care unit.

"I remember just sitting there crying and crying," McAvoy said. "All I could think about was fighting, and wanting to get out to see my daughter."

McAvoy was released last week, but still depends on an oxygen tank because his lungs still aren't strong enough to go without one, and he hasn't seen his daughter in a month because he's still testing positive for what he believes is the delta variant of the virus.

"I was one of those people that said it affects just the elderly or affects the older people that have health conditions -- that's absolutely not true," McAvoy said. "I hope that people start to take it serious."

We have another idiot who got sick and didn't.

According to CBS News, Louisiana resident Scott Rowe first got sick with COVID-19 and he subsequently developed severe pneumonia that landed him in the hospital until he was finally sent home this week.

When asked by CBS whether he'd do anything differently if given the chance again, Rowe said he wouldn't.

"Don't shove it down my throat!" Rowe said of the vaccine. "That's what local, state, and federal administration was trying to do."

And then we have yet another batshit nuts Republican in Congress that shouldn't be trusted with a spork much less legislation that impacts the nation. Also MTG who is in her own category of batshit nuts.

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) appeared on MSNBC Thursday to discuss bills that are coming before the Senate. But in talking about COVID-19 and the vaccine, Cramer claimed that people can't even pray for someone's health anymore because of HIPAA laws.

It's a bizarre conspiracy that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) started because she doesn't want to reveal her vaccination status to her constituents or to supporters of the Republican Party.

"Your first question is a violation of my HIPAA rights. You see with HIPAA rights we don't have to reveal our medical records and that also includes our vaccine records," Greene told a reporter asking about her vaccine status.

According to Greene, vaccine passports, talking about your vaccine status, being asked about your vaccine status are all violations of HIPAA. Critics claim that it's an indication Greene doesn't want her supporters to know that she's vaccinated.

"People being hesitant, wanting to wait to see how it plays out is perfectly logical to me," said Cramer. "But North Dakotans are logical in other ways, they know how to take care of themselves, protect themselves and their children. I want to honor personal privacy by the way which is also critical. We can't pray for people's healing in church anymore because it would out their health situations, so I don't know why we should be outing everybody's personal decision on vaccinations."

The problem is that they're both factually wrong. The Department of Health and Human Services explains the law aimed to assure "that individuals' health information is properly protected while allowing the flow of health information needed to provide and promote high-quality health care and to protect the public's health and well-being."

No one is required to give their status to a reporter, but there's no law that bars it or prevents a reporter or anyone else from asking about it.

[LFC]

Thoughts and prayers. (I think he was an idiot and I praise the other idiots wise up.)

A 34-year-old congregant of Hillsong Church and graduate of Hillsong College died Wednesday after a month-long bout with the coronavirus during which he posted jokes about the COVID-19 vaccine. “Biden’s door to door vaccine ‘surveyors’ really should be called JaCovid Witnesses. #keepmovingdork,” Stephen Harmon tweeted on July 8, after posting in June: “IF YOU’RE HAVING EMAIL PROBLEMS, I FEEL BAD FOR YOU, SON. I GOT 99 PROBLEMS BUT A VAX AIN’T ONE!” He made memes about trusting the Bible over Dr. Anthony Fauci. But in late July, Harmon wrote that he was “on max oxygen” and “struggling to function.” His final tweet July 21 asked supporters to pray for him as he was about to be intubated: “Don’t know when i’ll wake up, please pray.” Brian Houston, the president of Hillsong Church, announced on Instagram, “Stephen was just a young man in his early 30’s. He was a graduate from Hillsong College and a vital part of our church in California. He was one of the most generous people I know and he had so much in front of him. He would always turn up to our grandkids soccer games and he will be missed by so many. RIP.”

[LFC]

Another Republican asshole who hasn't remotely tried to grasp what's going on with vaccinations.

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) lashed out at reporters in front of the U.S. Capitol on Thursday after they asked questions about GOP members being vaccinated.

Jackson whined that it was unfair because the media never asks if Democrats are vaccinated. As CNN's fact-checker Daniel Dale explained, Democrats have been vaccinated for months, where some Republicans are only now deciding to get vaccinated.

You work with these people you dipshit! How the hell could you not know this?

[goldenvalley]

Jul 23, 2021 16:17:36 GMT LFC said:

Another Republican asshole who hasn't remotely tried to grasp what's going on with vaccinations.

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) lashed out at reporters in front of the U.S. Capitol on Thursday after they asked questions about GOP members being vaccinated.

Jackson whined that it was unfair because the media never asks if Democrats are vaccinated. As CNN's fact-checker Daniel Dale explained, Democrats have been vaccinated for months, where some Republicans are only now deciding to get vaccinated.

You work with these people you dipshit! How the hell could you not know this?

It's not that he doesn't know.  It's that he has to yell about biased media.  These folks exist to service their base voters.

[LFC]

Half of f***ing House Republicans. HALF!

Some are staying silent. Others think it’s none of your business. A handful are shamelessly promoting anti-vax rhetoric.

Half of House Republicans will not share their vaccination status, or openly refuse to get the shot.

A new CNN report published Thursday attempted to confirm the vaccination status of all House and Senate Republicans. It found 114 of 211 House Republicans are vaccinated, about 54 percent. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) was the only House GOPer who told CNN he wasn’t vaccinated.

Forty-six of 50 senators confirmed to CNN that they had gotten the shot, with two senators, Sens. Mike Braun (R-IN) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND), refusing to say whether or not they’d gotten it. Two others — Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Rand Paul (R-KY) — have both publicly stated they don’t plan to get vaccinated at all. RonJohn apparently thinks he’s safe because he already had COVID.

CNN did a similar piece back in May. Since then, 17 House Republicans more have gotten the shot. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has made it clear for months that she won’t lift House floor mask rules until everyone in the House is vaccinated. This is all while some House Republicans like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA) and Lauren Boebert (CO) spread disinformation about the vaccine, equating the White House’s vaccination push with Nazi-era symbolism.

While most House members who won’t confirm their vaccination status don’t feign indignance like Greene or brag about their unvaccinated status like RonJohn, the silence is louder in this situation.

TPM’s Josh Marshall is among those who have been puzzling all week over a sudden and loud about-face by some in the GOP and the right-wing media on vaccinations. Conservative media personalities like Sean Hannity and Ben Shapiro joined hands this week to encourage their viewers and followers to get vaccinated (while continuing to spread disinfo about COVID-19 and vaccines in general, all in the same breath). Sen. Steve Scalise (R-LA) announced that he finally got vaccinated last weekend. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) — who, to be fair, has been good about encouraging Republicans, especially men, to get the shot — doubled down in his calls for people to get the vaccine, ominously warning that we might be heading toward a fall that will look a lot like 2020 if people don’t.

It’s possible this is all rooted in the surge in infections and hospitalizations in the U.S. as the Delta variant rips through the country, infecting the vaccinated and the unvaccinated alike and giving us real time data on how effective the shot actually is: Unvaccinated Americans account for 97 percent of the current COVID-19 related hospitalizations.

[LFC]

I guess being the cause of thousands of deaths doesn't play well politically, not even in red states.

According to Brett Kelman, health care reporter for The Tennessean, the state of Tennessee has completely reversed its decision to discontinue near all forms of adolescent vaccine advocacy. “We put a pause on many things, and then we have resumed all of those,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey. This decision was a huge story little more than a week ago. Now it’s being completely reversed.

This isn’t precisely the same as the Fox/Rightwing influencer switcheroo we’ve been talking about over the last few days. This is a public agency reacting first to the demands of elected officials and then reversing course – at least in some degree – because of a public firestorm. But it’s clearly part of the same general about-face, and both trends are reacting to the same realities on the ground.

Here’s another example.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey held a press conference sounding the alarm bell about the rapid spread of COVID in the state and put a significant amount of the blame on people who haven’t gotten vaccinated. “Let’s be crystal clear about this issue. And media, I want you to start reporting the facts. The new cases of COVID are because of unvaccinated folks. Almost 100% of the new hospitalizations are with unvaccinated folks. And the deaths are certainly occurring with the unvaccinated folks. These folks are choosing a horrible lifestyle of self-inflicted pain,” she said at the event yesterday in Birmingham.

When a reporter asked her what more the state could do to increase vaccination rates, she shot back with a mix of frustration and perhaps sarcasm, “I don’t know. You tell me.”

But as this Twitter user points out, just two months ago Ivey signed a law prohibiting the use of vaccine passports not only by local governments but private businesses as well.