Just as we are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, Texas governor Greg Abbott wants to snuff it out with his reckless reopening of the state and revocation of the mask mandate. Just down the road a piece, Mississippi governor Tate Reeves is hot on Abbott's heels, declaring the state open for business, COVID variants, death and misery.
Because liberty, or freedom, or just a distraction from the disaster that is their states after the big freeze driven by climate change. Who knows?
Joe Biden is not happy about it, as he made clear after giving a statement on how he intends to battle cancer and wrestle it to the ground, and kill it forever as a killer of people.
When asked by reporters, Biden was...chagrinned. "We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because of the way in which we're able to get vaccines in people's arms. We've been able to move that all the way up to the end of May to have enough for every American to get -- every adult American to get a shot," he said. And the last thing -- the last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that, in the meantime, everything is fine, take off your mask. "
"Forget it. It still matters," he cautioned.
I am waiting for the wails to flow out of Fox News so loud they deafen me. How DARE he speak of Republicans that way? Of course, he didn't speak of them in any way that wasn't true, but we all know how Fox News is. Any minute they're going to whine about how the president called the governors "Neanderthals." Which he did not do. They're already crowing over these decisions on their "business channel."
What he DID do is remind everyone that even though we will have enough vaccine by May, we won't be fully vaccinating people until sometime in summer.
Putting an exclamation point on that, Biden exhorted everyone to keep doing all the things: "And it's critical -- critical, critical, critical -- that they follow the science: Wash your hands -- hot water; do it frequently. Wear a mask. And stay socially distanced."
He added, "And I know you all know that. I wish the heck some of our elected officials knew it."
In other words, don't be a Neanderthal like those governors.
By the way, Abbott is fully vaccinated. I'll wager Tate is, too. So what are they risking anyway?