George W. Bush: Michael Gerson’s words make the case for saving PEPFAR
By George W. Bush
September 13, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
The writer was the 43rd president of the United States.
When I took office in 2001, the situation with HIV/AIDS on the African continent and elsewhere was dire. A group of advisers including Condi Rice, Josh Bolten and Mike Gerson encouraged me to act before an entire generation was lost.
I believe that every life has dignity and value. I also believe that of those to whom much is given, much is required. So we developed a plan with clear objectives and accountability, and we got to work.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Since the “Chicago covid” thread was closed-for once not because of me- I now have covid…..again. Yesterday picked up paxlovid for husband and pharmacy will deliver mine today. Over $1100 worth of medication completely covered by the govt. Not sure that’s fair when we both have medical and scrip till we pass (excellent union job!) but still, this country does TRY to take care of us, sometimes.
I’m fine….I’m so sorry this is hitting you so hard. I know you said you were noticing chest symptoms…..don’t mess around with it. It’s serious. People who say otherwise are just plain selfish. You’re such a good guy (from what I can tell) I’d hate to see you suffer too long. I’ll say a prayer for your quick recovery with no long term effects. Take care and be safe!
Since the “Chicago covid” thread was closed-for once not because of me- I now have covid…..again. Yesterday picked up paxlovid for husband and pharmacy will deliver mine today. Over $1100 worth of medication completely covered by the govt. Not sure that’s fair when we both have medical and scrip till we pass (excellent union job!) but still, this country does TRY to take care of us, sometimes.
Show was six days ago. When did you start feeling bad?
Two friends I was around briefly came down with it, but I've been fine so far.
Since the “Chicago covid” thread was closed-for once not because of me- I now have covid…..again. Yesterday picked up paxlovid for husband and pharmacy will deliver mine today. Over $1100 worth of medication completely covered by the govt. Not sure that’s fair when we both have medical and scrip till we pass (excellent union job!) but still, this country does TRY to take care of us, sometimes.
Show was six days ago. When did you start feeling bad?
Two friends I was around briefly came down with it, but I've been fine so far.
Husband started symptoms Saturday (we came home Friday). I started symptoms yesterday.
just saw that covid roll call thread. man, so many asshats around.
I could not find that thread...was it taken down?
1995 Milwaukee 1998 Alpine, Alpine 2003 Albany, Boston, Boston, Boston 2004 Boston, Boston 2006 Hartford, St. Paul (Petty), St. Paul (Petty) 2011 Alpine, Alpine 2013 Wrigley 2014 St. Paul 2016 Fenway, Fenway, Wrigley, Wrigley 2018 Missoula, Wrigley, Wrigley 2021 Asbury Park 2022 St Louis 2023 Austin, Austin
Drat....it's been closed. I didn't even get a chance to say that I, too, like spreading disease to dunk on Biden and Fauci.
1995 Milwaukee 1998 Alpine, Alpine 2003 Albany, Boston, Boston, Boston 2004 Boston, Boston 2006 Hartford, St. Paul (Petty), St. Paul (Petty) 2011 Alpine, Alpine 2013 Wrigley 2014 St. Paul 2016 Fenway, Fenway, Wrigley, Wrigley 2018 Missoula, Wrigley, Wrigley 2021 Asbury Park 2022 St Louis 2023 Austin, Austin
Wow. Thanks for posting. Reading some of those comments it should be no surprise why trump has a real chance to win.
To some, either you don’t think about Covid risk at all or you need to hide in your house petrified.
It’s nice the forum has rules, but maybe we need to yell at each other because nice rules can not stop the reckoning we appear headed towards.
I think the combination of a poor science education (common in US schools) and a lack of empathy created a lot of the anti-vax atmosphere. If people had a better understanding of how vaccines work, how viruses work, and how disease spreads, well, that wouldn't fix everything but it would eliminate a lot of the ignorance. I learned all of the above in an introductory college biology class, so it's not like we all need to go to medical school to understand these things.
All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it.
I'm not going to go back through all 127 pages of this thread. So if I've said this before, I've said it before, it's worth repeating.
I'm one of those people who have issues with respiratory diseases. Since my early twenties, most colds I catch would end up turning into bronchitis or something worse: I'd spend six to eight weeks gasping for breath, coughing up blood, trying not to crack a rib. I got the Prevnar vaccine about ten years ago, and it changed my life. At that point, I had to use an inhaler when I caught a cold. (As a point of reference, I'm very fit, lean, run 50+ miles/week, don't smoke, etc.) Getting the vaccine meant that colds stayed colds, easily managed by zinc, fluids, and rest.
The whole family got H1N1 at the Spectrum shows. We're diligent about getting flu shots, so this was a great learning experience for my kids, who had no memory of being really sick: As a result even my needle-phobic child makes sure to get a flu shot every fall. I cannot imagine passing up on an option to avoid being sick like that.
An important thing to remember, though: Flu vaccines aren't perfect, some years they're maybe 40% effective. Covid vaccines are amazing, they're much more effective. BUT: the goal of the Covid vaccine isn't to keep you from getting Covid, it's to keep you from being hospitalized or dying due to Covid.
All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it.
i keep seeing these people posting pics with pj band members on social media. no masks. nobody is taking precautions. josh k was at dealey plaza in dallas this morning posing with fans. the band isn't even taking the risk seriously, so i am not surprised the band members are getting sick.
i believe that no big tours from any band will go off without a hitch for the forseeable future. hetfield got covid last week.
"You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry." - Lincoln
i keep seeing these people posting pics with pj band members on social media. no masks. nobody is taking precautions. josh k was at dealey plaza in dallas this morning posing with fans. the band isn't even taking the risk seriously, so i am not surprised the band members are getting sick.
i believe that no big tours from any band will go off without a hitch for the forseeable future. hetfield got covid last week.
That’s a lot of late 50, early sixty individuals getting this strain.
I'm not going to go back through all 127 pages of this thread. So if I've said this before, I've said it before, it's worth repeating.
I'm one of those people who have issues with respiratory diseases. Since my early twenties, most colds I catch would end up turning into bronchitis or something worse: I'd spend six to eight weeks gasping for breath, coughing up blood, trying not to crack a rib. I got the Prevnar vaccine about ten years ago, and it changed my life. At that point, I had to use an inhaler when I caught a cold. (As a point of reference, I'm very fit, lean, run 50+ miles/week, don't smoke, etc.) Getting the vaccine meant that colds stayed colds, easily managed by zinc, fluids, and rest.
The whole family got H1N1 at the Spectrum shows. We're diligent about getting flu shots, so this was a great learning experience for my kids, who had no memory of being really sick: As a result even my needle-phobic child makes sure to get a flu shot every fall. I cannot imagine passing up on an option to avoid being sick like that.
An important thing to remember, though: Flu vaccines aren't perfect, some years they're maybe 40% effective. Covid vaccines are amazing, they're much more effective. BUT: the goal of the Covid vaccine isn't to keep you from getting Covid, it's to keep you from being hospitalized or dying due to Covid.
It doesn’t pay to be smart, reasonable, mature, and honest around here sometimes, however, I certainly appreciate your PSA and thank you for posting!
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
i keep seeing these people posting pics with pj band members on social media. no masks. nobody is taking precautions. josh k was at dealey plaza in dallas this morning posing with fans. the band isn't even taking the risk seriously, so i am not surprised the band members are getting sick.
i believe that no big tours from any band will go off without a hitch for the forseeable future. hetfield got covid last week.
they can't live in a bubble forever. can you imagine touring and being sequestered the entire time? what band would tour? I don't wear a mask anymore. I take a sardine-packed bus home from work 3 days a week. such is life now.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
The full paper requires subscription access, here is the abstract:
Abstract
Inducing
antigen-specific tolerance during an established immune response
typically requires non-specific immunosuppressive signalling molecules.
Hence, standard treatments for autoimmunity trigger global
immunosuppression. Here we show that established antigen-specific
responses in effector T cells and memory T cells can be suppressed by a
polymer glycosylated with N-acetylgalactosamine (pGal) and conjugated to
the antigen via a self-immolative linker that allows for the
dissociation of the antigen on endocytosis and its presentation in the
immunoregulatory environment. We show that pGal–antigen therapy induces
antigen-specific tolerance in a mouse model of experimental autoimmune
encephalomyelitis (with programmed cell-death-1 and the co-inhibitory
ligand CD276 driving the tolerogenic responses), as well as the
suppression of antigen-specific responses to vaccination against a
DNA-based simian immunodeficiency virus in non-human primates. Our
findings show that pGal–antigen therapy invokes mechanisms of immune
tolerance to resolve antigen-specific inflammatory T-cell responses and
suggest that the therapy may be applicable across autoimmune diseases.
There's no sign of widespread COVID-19 mandates in the US. Republicans are warning of them anyway
By ALI SWENSON
13 Sep 2023
NEW YORK (AP) — As Americans fend off a late summer COVID-19 spike and prepare for a fresh vaccine rollout, Republicans are raising familiar fears that government-issued lockdowns and mask mandates are next.
It's been a favorite topic among some of the GOP's top presidential contenders. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters that people are “lurching toward” COVID-19 restrictions and “there needs to be pushback.” South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott posted online that the “radical Left” seeks to bring back school closures and mandates. And former President Donald Trump urged congressional Republicans to stop the Biden administration from bringing back COVID-19 “mandates, lockdowns or restrictions of any kind.”
“The radical Democrats are trying hard to restart COVID hysteria,” Trump told supporters in Rapid City, South Dakota, during a recent campaign stop. “I wonder why. Is there an election coming up by any chance?”
While some individual schools and colleges have implemented temporary mask requirements, there is no sign that anyone in federal or state leadership is considering widespread COVID-19 restrictions, requirements or mask mandates. The administrations of several Democratic governors denied that any such moves are even under discussion. The overriding sentiment is to leave the decisions to individuals.
“No COVID-19 public health restrictions or mask requirements are being considered by the Murphy administration," said Christi Peace, spokesperson for New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.
“There are no impending mass lockdowns or mask mandates for New Mexico," said Jodi McGinnis Porter, spokeswoman for the New Mexico Department of Public Health.
It was largely the same message from Democratic governors’ offices in several other states that responded to an inquiry about whether any COVID-19 mandates were under consideration. That included Connecticut, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan and Oregon.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, made clear his opposition to COVID-19 lockdowns as well as mask and vaccine mandates when he was campaigning for office last year: “This is an area where I think folks got it wrong,” he said of school and business shutdowns. His office echoed the same sentiment in its response to the AP this week, saying, “The administration's view is that there is no need to impose restrictions.”
In the two most populous Democratic-led states, California and New York, the state health departments recommend getting the updated vaccine, but have no requirements for the shot or mask wearing. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was asked during a news conference Wednesday about whether she would consider mask or vaccine mandates: “We are in a place where we’re seeing low numbers; not requiring such actions today,” she said.
Elisabeth Shepard, spokesperson for Oregon’s Democratic governor, Tina Kotek, noted that the federal public health emergency for the virus outbreak ended in May.
“Currently, COVID-19 lockdowns and mask mandates are not being discussed and the governor has no plans to institute these measures,” she said.
Still, the misleading narrative has proven a convenient scare tactic for Republicans in their efforts to woo voters who see Democrats as oppressive leaders targeting their freedoms.
The GOP presidential hopefuls hammering this message in the last week join a chorus of conservative lawmakers and far-right pundits who have spent the last month warning that tyrannical COVID-19 measures are looming.
In August, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones claimed an anonymous “high-level manager in the TSA” and an unnamed “Border Patrol-connected” source told him that Transportation Security Administration workers would soon need to wear masks and that COVID-19 lockdowns would return in December.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the claims were “utterly false,” but they still were amplified by influential Republicans, including Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who posted on X that she wrote to the TSA demanding answers.
Later last month, when a Black liberal arts college in Atlanta announced it had reinstated a temporary mask mandate in response to student infections, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, posted on X that “Americans have had enough COVID hysteria. WE WILL NOT COMPLY!”
The school, Morris Brown College, has since lifted the requirement but is keeping in place other policies, including contact tracing and temperature checks on campus.
Some of the outcry from conservatives has been in response to President Joe Biden’s comments last month on COVID-19’s recent uptick, which has led to an increase in hospitalizations and deaths nationwide — though a fraction of what the country saw in past surges.
“As a matter of fact, I signed off this morning on a proposal we have to present to the Congress a request for additional funding for a new vaccine that is necessary — that works,” Biden told reporters during a visit to South Lake Tahoe. “And tentatively — not decided finally yet — tentatively, it is recommended that, it will likely be recommended that everybody get it no matter whether they’ve gotten it before or not.”
The CDC on Tuesday endorsed those new shots for everyone 6 months and older, and the vaccines will be available at pharmacies, health centers and some doctor offices as soon as this week. But a new federal vaccine mandate is not under consideration, according to a White House official who requested anonymity to discuss the administration’s thinking.
A federal mask mandate is also not on the table.
“To be clear, the rumors of a federal mask mandate are not true," said Jeff Nesbit, assistant secretary for public affairs for Health and Human Services. "We now have a range of tools for people to protect themselves from the impact of COVID-19, including vaccines, at-home testing and treatments. Masking is one of several steps people may choose to take to protect themselves if they wish.”
Reinstated mask requirements across the country have so far been limited to a handful of local schools and businesses. One example is a Maryland elementary school that required students who were exposed in a classroom’s outbreak to wear masks at school for 10 days.
But these isolated measures have sparked outrage from conservatives who have used them to energize their supporters.
Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio last week unveiled the “Freedom to Breathe Act,” a bill that would block the federal government from imposing mask mandates for domestic flights, public transit and schools. His call for unanimous passage of the bill failed, with Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts calling it a “red herring” meant to deflect from the GOP’s prioritization of “gimmicks over people."
Greene, the Republican from Georgia, introduced a companion bill in the House. She has said she won’t vote to avoid a government shutdown unless the government ends coronavirus mandates, which have already largely been reversed.
Misinformation experts say there’s a strategy to Republicans’ foreboding claims about impending mandates: They remind voters of the negative feelings they had early in the pandemic — and associate those with Democrats.
“Wearing a mask doesn’t have to be connected to anxiety, fear, anger and other strong emotions, but for many people it is,” said Lisa Fazio, a Vanderbilt University psychology professor who studies the spread of false claims. “No one wants to go back to those feelings, so Republicans are trying to tie those negative feelings and memories to their political opponents.”
Meanwhile, some of the Republican-led states where state leaders are railing against COVID-19 measures have been the hardest hit by the recent surge. Data shows Mississippi had the highest COVID-19 death rate per 10,000 people in the last week of August.
Early that week, the state’s Republican governor, Tate Reeves, pledged to block any widespread restrictions, posting online that the state would “live in self-determination, not top-down fear.”
___
Associated Press data journalist Nicky Forster and writers Joey Cappelletti, Mike Catalini, Sara Cline, Jill Colvin, John Hanna, Susan Haigh, Maysoon Khan, Seung Min Kim, Steve LeBlanc, Morgan Lee, Marc Levy, Lisa Mascaro and Andrew Selsky contributed to this report.
___
The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Comments
Opinion
When I took office in 2001, the situation with HIV/AIDS on the African continent and elsewhere was dire. A group of advisers including Condi Rice, Josh Bolten and Mike Gerson encouraged me to act before an entire generation was lost.
I believe that every life has dignity and value. I also believe that of those to whom much is given, much is required. So we developed a plan with clear objectives and accountability, and we got to work.
In 2003, Congress authorized the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, with huge bipartisan support. Twenty years later, the results are clear: PEPFAR has saved more than 25 million lives and prevented millions of HIV infections. Members of Congress and American citizens from both parties should be proud.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
astoria 06
albany 06
hartford 06
reading 06
barcelona 06
paris 06
wembley 07
dusseldorf 07
nijmegen 07
this song is meant to be called i got shit,itshould be called i got shit tickets-hartford 06 -
astoria 06
albany 06
hartford 06
reading 06
barcelona 06
paris 06
wembley 07
dusseldorf 07
nijmegen 07
this song is meant to be called i got shit,itshould be called i got shit tickets-hartford 06 -
Two friends I was around briefly came down with it, but I've been fine so far.
www.headstonesband.com
2013 Wrigley 2014 St. Paul 2016 Fenway, Fenway, Wrigley, Wrigley 2018 Missoula, Wrigley, Wrigley 2021 Asbury Park 2022 St Louis 2023 Austin, Austin
www.headstonesband.com
2013 Wrigley 2014 St. Paul 2016 Fenway, Fenway, Wrigley, Wrigley 2018 Missoula, Wrigley, Wrigley 2021 Asbury Park 2022 St Louis 2023 Austin, Austin
I think the combination of a poor science education (common in US schools) and a lack of empathy created a lot of the anti-vax atmosphere. If people had a better understanding of how vaccines work, how viruses work, and how disease spreads, well, that wouldn't fix everything but it would eliminate a lot of the ignorance. I learned all of the above in an introductory college biology class, so it's not like we all need to go to medical school to understand these things.
i believe that no big tours from any band will go off without a hitch for the forseeable future. hetfield got covid last week.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
www.headstonesband.com
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
astoria 06
albany 06
hartford 06
reading 06
barcelona 06
paris 06
wembley 07
dusseldorf 07
nijmegen 07
this song is meant to be called i got shit,itshould be called i got shit tickets-hartford 06 -
www.headstonesband.com
For sure! Sounds very promising.
astoria 06
albany 06
hartford 06
reading 06
barcelona 06
paris 06
wembley 07
dusseldorf 07
nijmegen 07
this song is meant to be called i got shit,itshould be called i got shit tickets-hartford 06 -
astoria 06
albany 06
hartford 06
reading 06
barcelona 06
paris 06
wembley 07
dusseldorf 07
nijmegen 07
this song is meant to be called i got shit,itshould be called i got shit tickets-hartford 06 -
Abstract
Inducing antigen-specific tolerance during an established immune response typically requires non-specific immunosuppressive signalling molecules. Hence, standard treatments for autoimmunity trigger global immunosuppression. Here we show that established antigen-specific responses in effector T cells and memory T cells can be suppressed by a polymer glycosylated with N-acetylgalactosamine (pGal) and conjugated to the antigen via a self-immolative linker that allows for the dissociation of the antigen on endocytosis and its presentation in the immunoregulatory environment. We show that pGal–antigen therapy induces antigen-specific tolerance in a mouse model of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (with programmed cell-death-1 and the co-inhibitory ligand CD276 driving the tolerogenic responses), as well as the suppression of antigen-specific responses to vaccination against a DNA-based simian immunodeficiency virus in non-human primates. Our findings show that pGal–antigen therapy invokes mechanisms of immune tolerance to resolve antigen-specific inflammatory T-cell responses and suggest that the therapy may be applicable across autoimmune diseases.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-023-01086-2
NEW YORK (AP) — As Americans fend off a late summer COVID-19 spike and prepare for a fresh vaccine rollout, Republicans are raising familiar fears that government-issued lockdowns and mask mandates are next.
It's been a favorite topic among some of the GOP's top presidential contenders. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters that people are “lurching toward” COVID-19 restrictions and “there needs to be pushback.” South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott posted online that the “radical Left” seeks to bring back school closures and mandates. And former President Donald Trump urged congressional Republicans to stop the Biden administration from bringing back COVID-19 “mandates, lockdowns or restrictions of any kind.”
“The radical Democrats are trying hard to restart COVID hysteria,” Trump told supporters in Rapid City, South Dakota, during a recent campaign stop. “I wonder why. Is there an election coming up by any chance?”
POLITICS
Hunter Biden sues the IRS over tax disclosures after agent testimony before Congress
Republican legislatures flex muscles to keep power in closely divided North Carolina and Wisconsin
North Carolina Republicans seek control over state and local election boards ahead of 2024
Ex-DOJ official Jeffrey Clark acted within scope of official duties in Georgia case, his lawyer says
While some individual schools and colleges have implemented temporary mask requirements, there is no sign that anyone in federal or state leadership is considering widespread COVID-19 restrictions, requirements or mask mandates. The administrations of several Democratic governors denied that any such moves are even under discussion. The overriding sentiment is to leave the decisions to individuals.
“No COVID-19 public health restrictions or mask requirements are being considered by the Murphy administration," said Christi Peace, spokesperson for New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.
“There are no impending mass lockdowns or mask mandates for New Mexico," said Jodi McGinnis Porter, spokeswoman for the New Mexico Department of Public Health.
It was largely the same message from Democratic governors’ offices in several other states that responded to an inquiry about whether any COVID-19 mandates were under consideration. That included Connecticut, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan and Oregon.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, made clear his opposition to COVID-19 lockdowns as well as mask and vaccine mandates when he was campaigning for office last year: “This is an area where I think folks got it wrong,” he said of school and business shutdowns. His office echoed the same sentiment in its response to the AP this week, saying, “The administration's view is that there is no need to impose restrictions.”
In the two most populous Democratic-led states, California and New York, the state health departments recommend getting the updated vaccine, but have no requirements for the shot or mask wearing. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was asked during a news conference Wednesday about whether she would consider mask or vaccine mandates: “We are in a place where we’re seeing low numbers; not requiring such actions today,” she said.
Elisabeth Shepard, spokesperson for Oregon’s Democratic governor, Tina Kotek, noted that the federal public health emergency for the virus outbreak ended in May.
“Currently, COVID-19 lockdowns and mask mandates are not being discussed and the governor has no plans to institute these measures,” she said.
Still, the misleading narrative has proven a convenient scare tactic for Republicans in their efforts to woo voters who see Democrats as oppressive leaders targeting their freedoms.
The GOP presidential hopefuls hammering this message in the last week join a chorus of conservative lawmakers and far-right pundits who have spent the last month warning that tyrannical COVID-19 measures are looming.
In August, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones claimed an anonymous “high-level manager in the TSA” and an unnamed “Border Patrol-connected” source told him that Transportation Security Administration workers would soon need to wear masks and that COVID-19 lockdowns would return in December.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the claims were “utterly false,” but they still were amplified by influential Republicans, including Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who posted on X that she wrote to the TSA demanding answers.
Later last month, when a Black liberal arts college in Atlanta announced it had reinstated a temporary mask mandate in response to student infections, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, posted on X that “Americans have had enough COVID hysteria. WE WILL NOT COMPLY!”
The school, Morris Brown College, has since lifted the requirement but is keeping in place other policies, including contact tracing and temperature checks on campus.
Some of the outcry from conservatives has been in response to President Joe Biden’s comments last month on COVID-19’s recent uptick, which has led to an increase in hospitalizations and deaths nationwide — though a fraction of what the country saw in past surges.
“As a matter of fact, I signed off this morning on a proposal we have to present to the Congress a request for additional funding for a new vaccine that is necessary — that works,” Biden told reporters during a visit to South Lake Tahoe. “And tentatively — not decided finally yet — tentatively, it is recommended that, it will likely be recommended that everybody get it no matter whether they’ve gotten it before or not.”
The CDC on Tuesday endorsed those new shots for everyone 6 months and older, and the vaccines will be available at pharmacies, health centers and some doctor offices as soon as this week. But a new federal vaccine mandate is not under consideration, according to a White House official who requested anonymity to discuss the administration’s thinking.
A federal mask mandate is also not on the table.
“To be clear, the rumors of a federal mask mandate are not true," said Jeff Nesbit, assistant secretary for public affairs for Health and Human Services. "We now have a range of tools for people to protect themselves from the impact of COVID-19, including vaccines, at-home testing and treatments. Masking is one of several steps people may choose to take to protect themselves if they wish.”
Reinstated mask requirements across the country have so far been limited to a handful of local schools and businesses. One example is a Maryland elementary school that required students who were exposed in a classroom’s outbreak to wear masks at school for 10 days.
But these isolated measures have sparked outrage from conservatives who have used them to energize their supporters.
Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio last week unveiled the “Freedom to Breathe Act,” a bill that would block the federal government from imposing mask mandates for domestic flights, public transit and schools. His call for unanimous passage of the bill failed, with Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts calling it a “red herring” meant to deflect from the GOP’s prioritization of “gimmicks over people."
Greene, the Republican from Georgia, introduced a companion bill in the House. She has said she won’t vote to avoid a government shutdown unless the government ends coronavirus mandates, which have already largely been reversed.
Misinformation experts say there’s a strategy to Republicans’ foreboding claims about impending mandates: They remind voters of the negative feelings they had early in the pandemic — and associate those with Democrats.
“Wearing a mask doesn’t have to be connected to anxiety, fear, anger and other strong emotions, but for many people it is,” said Lisa Fazio, a Vanderbilt University psychology professor who studies the spread of false claims. “No one wants to go back to those feelings, so Republicans are trying to tie those negative feelings and memories to their political opponents.”
Meanwhile, some of the Republican-led states where state leaders are railing against COVID-19 measures have been the hardest hit by the recent surge. Data shows Mississippi had the highest COVID-19 death rate per 10,000 people in the last week of August.
Early that week, the state’s Republican governor, Tate Reeves, pledged to block any widespread restrictions, posting online that the state would “live in self-determination, not top-down fear.”
___
Associated Press data journalist Nicky Forster and writers Joey Cappelletti, Mike Catalini, Sara Cline, Jill Colvin, John Hanna, Susan Haigh, Maysoon Khan, Seung Min Kim, Steve LeBlanc, Morgan Lee, Marc Levy, Lisa Mascaro and Andrew Selsky contributed to this report.
___
The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14