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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRand Paul May Be Infecting America with a Brand New COVID Epidemic
Because of Rand Paul and his fellow maskholes, America may be facing an entirely new pandemic, one that can kill you even if youve already had Covid.
Probably the most under-reported story of the week, and perhaps of the year, was a comment that Dr. Anthony Fauci made in response to harassment from Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul.
Paul, an entitled, preening ass of the first order, refuses to wear a mask because, he says, hes already contracted Covid, survived it, and now claims he is immune to the disease. He says people whove been vaccinated shouldnt bother with masks, either.
Youve been vaccinated and you parade around in two masks for show. You cant get it again, Paul scolded Fauci, whos been immunized. Theres virtually 0% chance youre going to get it and youre telling people that have had the vaccine who have immunity youre defying everything we know about immunity by telling people to wear masks who have been vaccinated.
Since Paul believes he cant get Covid, the Senators logic goes, why should he bother to wear a mask to protect himself from a disease he cant get? And since he cant get Covid again, why should he bother to wear a mask to protect others when he cant become infected and thus contagious?
Its actually a pretty reasonable logical position. Unfortunately, Paul hadnt bothered to check out the science or read the newspapers, particularly out of Europe.
It turns out that even though Pauls already had Covid, he can get re-infected and infect others and this goes way beyond the rare cases of normal second infections. Theres a brand new version of Covid, so mutated it may eventually be considered an entirely new disease, and its ripping through the world.
Keep in mind that Covid is an entirely new disease in the 300,000 year history of the human race. Our immune systems have never seen it before.
We have, in the last 20 years, encountered two other versions of the Corona viruses that also jumped from the wild into humans: the original SARS and MERS. SARS kills about a fifth of the people who get it; MERS kills a little more than a third. And now this one, SARS-COV-2 (aka Covid-19), is mutating.
In the South African study conducted by [Johnson & Johnson], Fauci told Paul on live television, they found that people who were infected with [the] wild type [of Covid, like Paul got] and were exposed to the variant in South Africa, the 351 [variant], it was as if they had never been infected before, they had no protection.
Let that sink in. No protection. It was a if they had never been infected before.
And, while having formerly had Covid (like Rand Paul) offers no protection against getting sick or even dying from the South African variant, the J&J study in South Africa did show that the vaccine at least cut incidence of illness in the face of it dramatically and pretty much eliminated hospitalization and death.
That vaccine and a new one under development by Novavax appear to offer about 60% protection against this new South African strain, but both also largely eliminate deaths from the disease and radically cut its transmission rate.
Nobody knows for sure how effective the Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZenica vaccines are against the new strain, but it appears they at least offer some immunity which previously having had Covid, like Rand Paul, does not do.
President Biden jumped on the message immediately, echoing Fauci just hours later.
In the past weeks weve seen increases in cases in several states, President Biden told the nation after Fauci pointed out Pauls vapidity. Scientists have made clear that things may get worse as new variants of this virus spread.
While the South African variant is just beginning to pop up here in the United States, it appears to be burning through France and parts of continental Europe, causing the UK to consider another lock-down even as their vaccination rates beat the US.
The BBC opened their podcast yesterday with: The Covid crisis in Europe is getting worse, and quickly.
That may well mean the world is at the same stage in a brand new pandemic this time with the South African variant that we were at with the original wild version back in March or April of last year. And that would be a very, very bad thing.
Thursday night President Biden addressed this, saying, Getting vaccinated is the best thing we can do to fight back against these variants, adding that we must also all wear masks, even if vaccinated or previously ill, to prevent the variants transmission.
Even if a vaccine any of the vaccines cant entirely stop the South African variant, according to Fauci and other scientists it will prevent hospitalizations and deaths. And if people keep wearing face masks, vaccinated or not, previously sick with Covid or not, we can cut the speed and breadth of its transmission across the country.
Republican governors are doing everything they can to sabatoge these efforts by lifting mask mandates and even concealing their own states death rates. A new study shows that states with Republican governors have the highest Covid death rates, and if they hold to their science denial, this may be just the beginning of an entirely new horror show. About a quarter of all Republican House members have refused any vaccine.
After Trumps incompetence killed half a million Americans, a couple dozen Republican governors and the House and Senate colleagues seem enthusiastic about repeating that little trick. Apparently they think if as many people can die on Bidens watch as did on Trumps, history will hold Trump and them harmless. Theyre wrong.
Our best hope is that people in those Red states continue doing what so many have done over the past year: ignoring their own governors and GOP representatives, wearing masks and social distancing, and taking advantage of any vaccine available.
As the South African variant is devastating Europe, we are now on the edge of being able to avoid the same fate here, if only Americans will listen to Dr. Fauci and President Biden.
There is hope, and me we may well be approaching the end of this long, dark tunnel.
But to get there, we have to listen to the science and ignore those Republican politicians who are doing everything they can to sabotage the Biden administration and let more Americans die for their own pathetic political gain.
Spread the word, not the variant.
Original post with hyperlinks to sources here: https://hartmannreport.com/p/rand-paul-may-be-infecting-america
dalton99a
(81,485 posts)In fact, every Republican MD in Congress thinks the same way
GopherGal
(2,008 posts)In fact, every Republican in Congress thinks the same way
dalton99a
(81,485 posts)RKP5637
(67,108 posts)It's no wonder his neighbor, apparently, can't stand him.
LisaM
(27,811 posts)You'd think Rand Paul would question why everyone seems to want to punch him, but that doesn't seem to be the way he's made.
RKP5637
(67,108 posts)50 Shades Of Blue
(9,993 posts)soothsayer
(38,601 posts)I just dont.
PufPuf23
(8,775 posts)want people to die and have some warped view of a resulting utopia where their most selfish dreams come true.
They give a fuck, they want others, to them the different, to die. They have zero idea what they wrought.
PatrickforB
(14,573 posts)Rand Paul is a hard-core libertarian ideologue. The kind of guy who will look you in the eye and watch while you starve to death, and vote against any aid at the same time.
As an aside, I just read your newest book, about oligarchy in America. For any who read my post here, I do recommend it.
thomhartmann
(3,979 posts)for your kind words. I put a LOT of work into that book, and think it's one of the most important in the series...
11 Bravo
(23,926 posts)Bo Zarts
(25,397 posts)I like that. I'll use it.
ananda
(28,859 posts)Sheesh
AllaN01Bear
(18,205 posts)2naSalit
(86,607 posts)Ever since he got it, actually. All those assholes who tested positive and got the magic whatever therapy to help them recover quickly, are also probably spreading it around.
CaptainTruth
(6,591 posts)What is the root cause of that? Is it rebelling against authority? (I'm talking about a general behavioral characteristic, not necessarily specific to masks & COVID, but certainly manifested in the masks/COVID scenario).
What are the origins of the beliefs that lead to the behavior, & how can we address them?
As folks can probably tell, I'm a "root causes" kind of guy. Far too often we deal with effects, but we never get around to dealing with causes.
peppertree
(21,635 posts)Repugs know there's finally a light at the end of the tunnel on this - and they don't like it.
They were planning on making the 2022 midterms (and, they hope, 2024) about "Biden's failure to tackle the Covid crisis" - and they'll be damned if they'll let anyone get in the way of that.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)At the very least. We only know what's come out. Yet here we are.
What are the root causes of knowing Russia's waging war on the U.S. and willfully ignoring he's part of it and searching him out? Knowing Russia targets Democrats specifically as America's strong point, why would anyone promote him on a forum for Democrats?
Same questions.
I certainly can't explain willfully self destructive behaviors.
peppertree
(21,635 posts)Repugs know there's finally a light at the end of the tunnel on this - and they don't like it.
They were planning on making the 2022 midterms (and, they hope, 2024) about "Biden's failure to tackle the Covid crisis" - and they'll be damned if they'll let anyone get in the way of that.
orleans
(34,051 posts)Buckeye_Democrat
(14,853 posts)... trying to kill as many citizens of their old rival as possible.
The GOP surely loves the "corporate mafia state" under Putin too -- with opponents being assassinated, their press being suppressed, elections being manipulated, and their government officials making a lot of money.
moondust
(19,981 posts)Also known as Republicans.
I_UndergroundPanther
(12,470 posts)We got to do something about the narcissist,authoritarian and sociopath problem in this country. They have become so numerous they threaten everything in this country including our government and the health of millions.
And therapy actually makes these personality types worse.
We need a way to seperate them from society and keep them away from positions of power. They get power they will abuse it Everytime.
I think narcissism and sociopathy and authoritarianism has a component of choice in being that way. People are in denial about this.
moondust
(19,981 posts)Some EU countries are starting to lock down again fearing another COVID wave with variants and inadequate supplies of vaccines. Of course that has been followed by thousands of lockdown protesters--most not wearing masks--in the streets of numerous EU countries on Saturday and probably again on Sunday.
Idiots like Dump, Rand Paul, and other U.S. maskholes can't be blamed directly for the idiots in other countries, but it can't help when people in other countries see so many Americans--some in the previous White House and in Congress--setting a terrible example.
Response to moondust (Reply #23)
I_UndergroundPanther This message was self-deleted by its author.
IronLionZion
(45,442 posts)there are hotspots in his state where new cases are increasing rapidly.
yonder
(9,665 posts)needs the lecture on vision.
DFW
(54,378 posts)There is very little vaccine, and some governments, like Germany, where I live, impose such strict rules that vaccination centers (already few in number) are required to discard vaccine instead of giving it to people who are willing to show up on a "standby" basis in case there are no-shows for appointments. My wife and I are 69 this year, and have been told (last message) that if we are lucky, we might get an appointment in late August. Having stopped the administering of Astra-Zeneca, this might be shoved back to the winter or next year. They just don't know. This is devastating for the whole of German society and its once-robust economy.
The Greens, up to now, the party counted as the most sensible here in Germany, have just proposed a tax increase from the current maximum rate of 42% (+5% "solidarity" supplement), which kicks in at just 57,919 for singles this year, to a marginal 45% (plus supplement) upwards of 100,000 gross, and a marginal 48% (plus supplement) upward of 200,000 gross, plus a wealth tax of 1% above an assessed (and they do the assessing) net worth of 2 million, even though their Supreme Court has already declared a wealth tax unconstitutional. The German constitution forbids double taxation, since a rather nasty government here in the 1930s and 1940s instituted double taxation on certain members of the population, confident that they wouldn't resist too much from the concentration camps to which they were subsequently sent. The post-war Germans were eager to avoid repeating that, so they wrote it into their constitution. Oh, yeah, and the government already rakes in a healthy 19% national sales tax (MwSt, or VAT) on all goods and services.
When the socialists took over France in 1981, they instituted a broad wealth tax--but excluding all art from the tax. The father of the hard-line socialist economics minister was a dealer in fine art. That's how these things work in Europe. Fifty rules where we have one, and a hundred exceptions to each rule, tailor-made to benefit those who wrote them.