{"id":4576,"date":"2021-08-06T07:43:31","date_gmt":"2021-08-06T11:43:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=4576"},"modified":"2021-08-06T07:43:36","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T11:43:36","slug":"a-blip-from-a-twit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/08\/06\/a-blip-from-a-twit\/","title":{"rendered":"A Blip from a Twit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What About<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

“Why don\u2019t you do your job?” was Florida\u2019s Governor Ron DeSantis comment to President Joe Biden this week. “Why don’t you get this border secure? And until you do that, I don\u2019t wanna hear a blip about COVID from you.”  That\u2019s after Florida had the second highest COVID infection rate in the Nation, up 119% in the past two weeks (Louisiana is highest \u2013 NYT<\/a>).  Biden and the White House are frustrated with DeSantis\u2019s lack of action. In fact, DeSantis not only prevented the State of Florida from acting, but also restricted local authorities in Florida from instituting individual controls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And with the traditional \u201cwhat-about-ism\u201d of his hero the 45th President, DeSantis tried to deflect Florida\u2019s growing COVID crisis by changing the subject to border security.\u00a0\u00a0It didn\u2019t work \u2013 hospitals in Florida are reaching capacity, and the Delta variant is still spreading.\u00a0\u00a0Unlike his fellow Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, who wished he could mandate masks (he signed a law removing his own authority), DeSantis still spouts mask wearing as a \u201cpersonal freedom\u201d issue, make you own choice.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeSantis isn\u2019t stupid.  He is a former Naval Officer, and a Yale and Harvard graduate.  So he knows that \u201cpersonal freedom\u201d won\u2019t stop COVID-19 variants.  And he also knows that it\u2019s \u201cI don\u2019t want to hear a\u2026\u201d \u2018bit\u2019, or \u2018whit\u2019 or even \u2018shit\u2019\u201d:  but not a blip.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who\u2019s Protected<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

DeSantis knows \u2013 just like most folks \u2013 that vaccination slows the spread of COVID, even the Delta variant\u00a0\u00a0(Pfizer – 64% to 94% for Delta versus 90%-96% for original,\u00a0\u00a0Healthline<\/a>).\u00a0\u00a0But just half of Florida citizens are covered.\u00a0\u00a0And the Governor knows that the vaccines almost guarantee that if a person does gets the variant, they won\u2019t be hospitalized or die.\u00a0\u00a0DeSantis also is surely aware that masks reduce the spread of this much more highly transmissible version.\u00a0\u00a0And finally he knows that this variant is having a greater impact on younger folks.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My experience with Florida is that it\u2019s a great place to retire, but a bad place to get sick.  Perhaps it\u2019s because there\u2019s such a large elderly population in Florida, that it seems so difficult to get effective care.  But most of the elderly in Florida aren\u2019t stupid, they got the vaccine, and they are prepared for the Delta variant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who doesn\u2019t have the vaccine?\u00a0\u00a0Younger folks, and particularly school aged kids.\u00a0\u00a0And now, the Delta variant\u2019s transmissibility is comparable to the chicken pox. For those my age, remember how quickly the chicken pox could spread through a grade school classroom?\u00a0\u00a0Younger folks don\u2019t know about that \u2013 because almost all got the vaccine for chicken pox.\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s a vaccine for COVID-19 too, but instead of encouraging vaccination and masking of the young, Governor DeSantis simply cries \u201cPersonal Freedom\u201d (WAPO<\/a>).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Science<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The science is not a matter of opinion.  While we can argue the impact of the infrastructure spending on the economy, or the role of the United States in international affairs, or even US policy on the Southern Border:  Covid is about facts, not opinions.  So it\u2019s hard not to think that DeSantis and his like are making a cruel choice.  They are choosing political expediency over public health, another \u201cBig Lie\u201d over lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for those, like DeSantis, who say \u201cthe science\u201d has changed \u2013 he\u2019s absolutely correct.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s the nature of science (and of nature).\u00a0\u00a0As we learn more, we alter the assumptions we started with.\u00a0\u00a0School systems teach the scientific method:\u00a0\u00a0observation describes a problem, create a hypothesis about the problem, test and evaluate the hypothesis, draw conclusion and refine the hypothesis.\u00a0\u00a0Science is constantly testing, constantly refining, willing to say \u201cwhat we thought was true was not, and here\u2019s the new answer\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facts Don\u2019t Matter<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

So when Dr. Fauci early in pandemic crisis did not recommend masks \u2013 he was working on the hypothesis that COVID didn\u2019t transmit well in the air.  When he got new data, better data, he refined his hypothesis and recommended masks. Unlike politicians who are afraid of becoming \u201cflip-floppers\u201d, Fauci is a scientist, who follows the facts.  And he followed the facts to the new Delta variant, recognizing that the solutions of last April and May or not the solutions of August and September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And \u201cIvy League\u201d Ron DeSantis knows it too.  But \u201cpersonal freedom\u201d is such good politics, that he doesn\u2019t give a shit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What About “Why don\u2019t you do your job?” was Florida\u2019s Governor Ron DeSantis comment to President Joe Biden this week. “Why don’t you get this border secure? And until you do that, I don\u2019t wanna hear a blip about COVID from you.”  That\u2019s after Florida had the second highest COVID infection rate in the Nation, up 119% in … Continue reading “A Blip from a Twit”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA Blip from a Twit : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ron DeSantis doesn't know a blip from a whit. 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