Alabama Exemplifies GOP Idiocy and Hypocrisy On Covid

I lived in Mobile, Alabama years ago and while conservative the state seemed to be trying to modernize and embrace science, knowledge and education albeit perhaps not at the pace of other states.  All these years later the state politically has become unrecognizable and the embrace of ignorance and utter disregard for facts and science now defines the state like many other Republican controlled states. With the lowest Covid vaccination rate in the nation, Alabama is seeing surging numbers of Covid cases and deaths Governor Kay Ivey - a dullard in my view who is pictured above - is belatedly bemoaning the fact that the majority of the residents of her state have not been/refused to get vaccinated. Indeed, she lashed out at the unvaccinated and stated that they are fueling the surge of Covid cases and and blamed them for the state's desperate situation.  What she failed to do is blame herself and the GOP controlled state legislature for their actions in aiding and abetting vaccine refusers and blocking business, schools and universities from requiring customers and students from being vaccinated. A false notion of "freedom" and an utter disregard for one's neighbors and family members my play well with the GOP's Christofascist/white supremacist base but it is literally killing people.   An op-ed at AL.com calls out Ivey and the GOP.  Here are excerpts:

An Alabama doctor vented her frustrations on Facebook and the world listened. A hospitalist at Grandview Medical Center, Dr. Brytney Cobia, shared what it’s like to tell desperate patients a vaccine couldn’t help them anymore.

“I hold their hand and tell them that I’m sorry, but it’s too late,” she wrote. And when those patients don’t make it, she tells their loved ones not to make the same mistake — to get vaccinated and get everyone else they can to do the same.

That message has now traveled around the world, read by millions. If only Alabama’s political leaders could speak so forcefully.

Governor Kay Ivey is finally trying. But her actions the last few months haven’t matched her words. The governor had just finished speaking at a Birmingham tech company’s grand opening Thursday, but in the press scrum afterward, the questions were about COVID. “Media, I want you to start reporting the facts,” a frustrated Kay Ivey said.

OK, governor. “The new cases of COVID are because of unvaccinated folks. Almost 100 percent of the new hospitalizations are unvaccinated folks.” Yes, and that includes children who aren’t eligible to get the vaccine, but we’ll get to that in a second. “And the deaths certainly are occurring with unvaccinated folks.” Fact.

“We’ve got to get folks to take the shot.” Ivey was mad, almost quivering, especially when a reporter asked what could be done to get more people to take the vaccine. “I don’t know,” she spat back. “You tell me.”

Ivey’s stern words Thursday said one thing, but her actions have sent a different message.

Two months ago, the Alabama Legislature passed a vaccine passport ban on the last day of its 2021 session. Lawmakers rammed the bill through so fast, not even the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Arthur Orr, seemed to know what was in it. That bill prohibited schools and universities from requiring students to be vaccinated. That bill forced private businesses to accept customers who have refused to get vaccinated. Ivey signed that bill into law.

Two weeks ago, UAB’s leading infectious disease expert Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo warned that lagging vaccinations rates and rising COVID cases, mostly due to the Delta variant, could push Alabama back to government-mandated mitigation measures.

Ivey lashed out. “No one asked for my input for this story, and the headline is misleading. So, I’ll respond here,” she or someone on her staff wrote on the governor’s Facebook page. “Alabama is OPEN for business. Vaccines are readily available, and I encourage folks to get one. The state of emergency and health orders have expired. We are moving forward.”

Only Alabama wasn’t moving forward. Hardly 24 hours later, the CDC revealed that Alabama had fallen to dead-last among state vaccination rates. 

But Ivey didn’t learn.

A week later, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended students mask-up this fall in schools. But Ivey’s office said the governor wasn’t on board. “Governor Ivey believes students need to be in the classroom without any type of mask requirement,” a spokeswoman said.

When asked the same question Thursday, Ivey seemed less confident. “That’s left up to every school district to make that decision,” said the governor who also sits on the Alabama State Board of Education. That school board spent most of its last meeting debating how to ban critical race theory from schools.

When the Biden administration offered federal help for door-to-door outreach, Ivey’s administration said, no thanks.

“Governor Ivey has no plans to put in a request for government workers to knock on people’s doors here in Alabama,” her spokeswoman told Alabama Political Reporter.

But one thing is clear, almost every state has done better with vaccinations than Alabama and now Mississippi is ahead of us, too.

So what do we do about it? I’ll tell you, governor.

Alabama has to get vaccinated. You have to send them into churches, Rotary clubs and Kiwanis meetings. You have to make them take the message to anyone who will listen — like street preachers the last day before the Rapture.

And if those lawmakers won’t listen, tell them they’re welcome to come back to Montgomery for a special session, instead. If sitting in rows of desks and sharing stale air is fine for Alabama school children, it’s good enough for them, too.

Make them.

And you have to work it, too. No more ribbon cuttings. No more speeches at grand openings. You have to travel this state every day and let people see you — at doctors’ offices, community clinics and neighborhood drug stores. And if you’re really brave, COVID wards at hospitals. I bet Dr. Cobia would show you around.

Tell anyone who will listen. Hold their hands and tell them. It’s not too late.

Will Ivey and the Alabama GOP listen?  Probably not - even with Mississippi (the perennial rival) doing a better job on vaccinations.