Local Government TV

Monday, October 24, 2022

GOVERNING: Vaccine Skepticism Is Contagious

It's that time of year. People who want to minimize their chances of being infected with the seasonal flu should be getting their vaccine now, especially since the flu this year has had a head start. But compared to last year, fewer people are getting them. It appears that the skepticism of COVID-19 antivaxers is contagious to the more traditional vaccines. 

During the week ending October 1, 10.5 million flu vaccinations were administered in pharmacies compared with an estimated 11.5 million the previous year. An estimated 6.1 million flu vaccinations were administered in physician medical offices compared with an estimated 8.5 million the previous year.

Even more troubling, schoolchildren are missing out on traditional vaccines for diseases like measles, mumps and rulella. According to GOVERNING, one out of every eight children in California between four and six years of age, remained unvaccinated this summer. Vaccination rates were down by double digits in Arkansas and Virginia. In D.C., 20,000 kids were behind on routine shots at the beginning of the school year. 

Pediatricians report that kids are being accompanied by their father, not mother, when they visit the doctor.  They refuse to allow their children to be vaccinated or to even discuss the matter.  

This has unfortunately become a partisan matter, especially when right-wingers like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ridiculously claim that masks and vaccines are a tool of the elite.  

GOVERNING establishes that DeSantis and others who have attempted to make vaccines a partisan issue, are sadly mistaken: 

"Since the start of the pandemic, Florida has suffered 381 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 population. By comparison, California has had 244. Numerous studies have shown that people in counties that vote Republican are dying at higher rates than those in Democratic counties. Vaccines are a big part of that story.

“Registered Republicans in Florida and Ohio had higher excess death rates than registered Democrats, driven by a large mortality gap in the period after all adults were eligible for vaccines,” according to a paper published last month by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The excess death rate was 76 percent higher among Republicans than Democrats. "The gap in excess death rates between Republicans and Democrats is concentrated in counties with low vaccination rates and only materializes after vaccines became widely available."

If you want to resist the COVID-19 vaccine, knock yourself out. Unless you're in the health profession, I support your right to kill yourself. But please think twice before refusing to allow your children to receive traditional vaccines for some serious illnesses.  

63 comments:

  1. Many of these anti-vaxxers though would likely be the ones who want to force a woman or young girl to carry a pregnancy to term, a medical condition by the way that comes with health risks, even if it is unwanted. They can't seem to fathom the difference between one which has NO AFFECT on their life and the other which could affect everyone they come in contact with.

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  2. Dumbfuckery prevails

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  3. Jesus H. Christ, Mr. Bernard fucking O'Hare: The "Covid 19" Vaccine is not a fucking Vaccine. It does not prevent disease, it does not cure disease, it doesn't even slow the spread and variations of the disease. It is an experiment in command and control of the general population by the elite group of government, Big Tech, and Big Pharma. The next step in power expansion is to add covid to the group of real, proven vaccines, that actually work, required for 'the children'. If you control and own the children, you control and own the future of the country. Simple and straight forward as that.

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  4. Its, all about trust, a fragile commodity, more and more are doubtful of what its spewed by government and the media, Is it the peoples fault? Or those who question the government?

    Scientific studies concerning the long term effects of the spike protein injections are coming in, they are often just thrown to the side, because the government has endorsed non ending shots for the foreseeable future. Natural immunity is till being disregarded in favor of more shots.

    Pfizer has now admitted they knew the shots would not stop transmission, yet all the pols and the media said it would. Open debate is good, as is open discussion of scientific study. Studies that have either been ignored or withheld from the public.

    Most people have accepted the benefits of vaccines based on the tired and proven method of using a dead or weakened virus, but this is a genetically reproducing technology that is not tested in the traditional manner. If you believe in the state, go for it, keep getting these jabs, it is your choice, but dont run down people who are skeptical concerning the lives of themselves and their children.

    And another thing it is stretch to call the mrna a vaccine it may have some benefits but it is not a vaccine in the scientific definition.

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  5. Here’s the deal, a growing number of people are skeptical of the advice given by their government. They believe their government, the medical and pharmaceutical community, and the corporate news media have not been truthful with them. The damages as a result of the Covid injections are many and they seem to affect young adults most. The evidence IS real.

    WE DO NOT TRUST THIS GOVERNMENT to function in our best interest. We see a nation in decline and poor government decision making has reached into our homes, directly to our family members. There’s a fear for our future brought about by so much lying and deceit by those we once trusted.

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  6. BO,
    You are presenting science and accordingly the Republicans they do not believe in this nonsense. They’re against getting vaccinated, against climate change, knowledge, civic safety. WTF they’re insane.

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  7. "Since the start of the pandemic, Florida has suffered 381 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 population. By comparison, California has had 244. Numerous studies have shown that people in counties that vote Republican are dying at higher rates than those in Democratic counties. Vaccines are a big part of that story."

    If you're going to re-post such shoddy analysis, Bernie, you need in fairness to adjust for age. Percent of Population deaths are tiny for most demographic bands and become significant only for the elderly. It makes sense that Florida -- the snowbird capital of America -- would be high than CA. Moreover, GOP members tend to be older. Ask your statistician friend who often posts here.

    Let others propagandize, Bernie, but don't be their errand boy...

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  8. Children? CDC tells us that we have approximately 1,000 juvenile (0 - 17) deaths out of a juvenile population of about 73,000,000. You do the math and count the zeros to the right of the decimal point.

    It seems that ignorant, scientifically illiterate COVID fetishists who never passed a statistics course in their life have a peculiar emotional attachment to the disproved propaganda of two years ago. Obviously, virtue signaling fulfills a deep need in otherwise unfulfilling lives.

    Let's keep such people away from children...

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  9. BO,
    You are presenting science and accordingly the Republicans they do not believe in this nonsense. They’re against getting vaccinated, against climate change, knowledge, civic safety. WTF they’re insane.

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  10. The vaccines ARE FOR THE ELITE. Stop spreading your propaganda. When injecting you with the needle, they put a chip in you that allows the government to track your every activity. If you are a male between the ages of 21 and 40 the vaccine makes you sterile and more than 50% of all males will be impotent. You can trust what I am saying. I am a democrat and have nothing to gain by telling the Republicans the truth. Oh, for some reason the vaccines are good for your children. Now, on to the polls. hey hey wink wink.

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  11. You are a asshole you can easily tell you are a democrat.

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  12. Good morning,

    There have always been vaccine naysayers and there always will be, no matter the science presented. In the past, people tended to keep the matter to themselves or just speak to a few people about their reasoning (religious beliefs, allergies, immunity, etc.). Unfortunately, now we have people who spread information — accurate or inaccurate — via social media, which helps spread the message with one click of the mouse. Couple that with the fact that we are a largely uneducated society because people don’t watch the news or read the paper as they once did. I know people I think to be intelligent tell me they don’t get their news from anything but social media. “It takes too much time to read a paper,” one said. We have created the perfect storm in America and we only have ourselves to blame.

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  13. I got my flu shot and I will get my 4th covid shot

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  14. "Its, all about trust, a fragile commodity, more and more are doubtful of what its spewed by government and the media, Is it the peoples fault? Or those who question the government?"

    The article discusses what destroyed trust in COVID-19 vaccines. Before they were developed, there already was a pretty big backlash against numerous intrusive government interventions, especially the lockdowns. Vaccines raised these same concerns. There have always been anti-vaxxers. They are normally fringe elements but their views became more acceptable bc of those other resentments about schools and businesses being closed. Idiots like Steve Lynch could say that they were changing our DNA. Also, like what occurs with flu vaccines, there are breakthrough infections with COVID-19 vaccines. Never mind that they almost always prevent hospitalization or death. We expect a vaccine that works against an infinite number of strain possibilities that have yet to occur, and the second a new strain is out there against which a vaccine is less effective, we then claim they don't work.

    The reality is that COVID-19 are effective. They do not prevent breakthroughs just as flu vaccines do not protect against breakthroughs bc the virus mutates. But they do tend to keep you alive.

    If you want to remain skeptical, I don't really care. It's your life. What concerns me is that this partisan rejection of COVID vaccines is spreading to other vaccines, and is going to result in illnesses and deaths among children who have not been inoculated.

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  15. You are the carbon they want to reduce...

    Enjoy your injections everyone. ;)

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  16. “This has unfortunately become a partisan matter, especially when right-wingers like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ridiculously claim that masks and vaccines are a tool of the elite. “
    Interesting.

    And then what do you quote? A study that says”

    “Numerous studies have shown that people in counties that vote Republican are dying at higher rates than those in Democratic counties.”

    I’m shocked…shocked I tell you that this has become partisan.

    But then you might say “it’s just the facts.”

    As someone already pointed out, COVID deaths are strongly correlated to age.

    State median age COVID death rate
    FL 42.7 3821
    NJ 40.2 3925
    MI 40.1 3914
    NY 39.4 3745
    PA 40.9 3717
    CA 37.3 2452

    Yeah, CA is an outlier, but not just with FL. Of course, that might ruin the narrative.

    Finally... “…one out of every eight children in California between four and six years of age, remained unvaccinated this summer.” California!!!! A large bastion of right-wingers no doubt.

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  17. Your poorly educated readers! It only became political when the former grifter-in-chief, failed to address the pandemic only to deny, lie & golf! Million+ Americans are dead and yet still, people question it?

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  18. There is a myriad of factors which could account for much of this, geographic, demographic, infrastructure, etc. For example, the median age is Florida is much higher than California because the population of elderly is higher in Florida. And yet the vaccination rates between the two states are fairly close, only slightly higher in California than Florida. The rate in both states is higher than the national average. But hey, it's fashionable to blame one political party. I remember during the election the left was calling it the "Trump vaccine" hastily rushed. Then Governor Cuomo was reticent to approve it for use in New York. He wanted his own set of scientists to analyze it. Our then VP Candidate said, "if Donald Trump tells us to take it, I'm not taking it". So yeah, there's plenty of rhetoric and blame to go around. The author, Alan Greenblatt, long time with NPR, so I'm sure he's completely objective too. So much politics in everything these days, that's the root of today's skepticism.

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  19. 9:45

    Good work. It's amazing how numbers paint a very different picture than the rantings of ignorant, scientifically illiterate COVID fetishists who have never passed a statistics course in their life.

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  20. Finally, someone telling the truth. These vaccines are very dangerous and should only be taken after very careful consideration. The shots themselves can infect your arm, make you sterile, give you the virus, place a chip in you for the government to track your every move and even affect your unborn children. Yes, that's a fact. If you live in what the politicians call "RED STATES", and you don't heed the warnings, your children can be born with half a brain. The rest of their lives they will always be known as Red State Republicans.
    For the sake of your children and the future of America, please heed the warnings.
    Keep up the good work Bernie.

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  21. I keep getting the booster shots hoping I finally get the 5G upgrade. A lot of my republican friends tell me that it is included in the latest variant.

    Here hoping I can turn myself into a wifi hotspot. I mean how cool would that be?

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  22. State median age COVID death rate
    FL 42.7 3821"


    That median age is pretty damn young. I'm surprised. I don't think it makes your point.

    "Finally... “…one out of every eight children in California between four and six years of age, remained unvaccinated this summer.” California!!!! A large bastion of right-wingers no doubt."

    This data point supports Governing's contention that COVID-19 skepticism is contagious and is spreading to the more traditional vaccines. Incidentally, there are 5.3 million GOP voters and 6.8 million others or indies in California. There actually are a large bastion of right-wingers there, certainly 1 out of 8 or more.

    You don't do statistics very well, do you?

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  23. Bernie,

    1. Median is not Mean. Those are two very different things.
    2. There are far more people in the younger demographic bands than in the older

    If you don't understand the great significance of the above, ask your statistician friend for a tutorial.

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  24. Statistics are no more valid than the agency who designs and manages the data collection . . . . on behalf of who writes the check! I am unable to trust ANY single source these days. We’re ‘SKEWED!”

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  25. Re age:

    How about percentage over 65? Or do you think that's not relevant to COVID fatality either?

    https://www.prb.org/resources/which-us-states-are-the-oldest/

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  26. "1. Median is not Mean. Those are two very different things.
    2. There are far more people in the younger demographic bands than in the older"


    I am quite aware of the differences between median, mean and mode. You have demonstrated quite convincingly that a lot of young people are dying of Covid in Florida. Thanks.

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  27. "How about percentage over 65? Or do you think that's not relevant to COVID fatality either?"

    We all know that there should be far more COVID fatalities in older people and that is why I am so amazed that the median (not mean) age in Florida is just 42.7. They are free to kill themselves by refusing to get vaccinated, but I hope they reconsider. They might be conservatives, but a lot of them are good people. I know a few up this way who refused the vaccine, contracted the disease and died at fairly young ages.

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  28. Dr. Oz got the vaccine. https://www.audible.com/pd/Dr-Oz-takes-the-COVID-19-Vaccine-Addresses-Public-Hesitation-against-it-Podcast/B08PJ8C3KB

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  29. I think there is an upside to your story.

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  30. Bernie, 11:43

    Median in no way demonstrates that "a lot" of young people are dying. It is simply the median of the few deaths there are.

    I have three assignments for you:
    1. Look at Percent of Population deaths across the standard Census Demographic bands. Except for the elderly, PoP is vanishingly tiny. Indeed, for 0 - 17, it rounds to 0.00%. The next few bands are barely higher.
    2. Get a tutorial from your statistician friend to help you understand what that means.
    3. Don't shill someone else's propaganda if you don't understand it.

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  31. The children in California, look up Jenny McCartney

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  32. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109011/coronavirus-covid19-death-rates-us-by-state/

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  33. I'm getting the latest vaccination.
    I'm tired of getting emails from the government telling me they're having a hard time tracking me, and I need to upgrade with the newest device by making an appointment for the newest booster shot.

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  34. OMG, Bernie. You brought out the nuts.
    Though some comments are obviously poking fun at the QAnon believers, conspiracy theorists, and anti-science types feeding in the Newsmax trough, some comments are from fools who actually believe the bullshit they have been fed.
    Those people need to identify themselves in public by wearing a tinfoil hat.

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  35. "I am quite aware of the differences between median, mean and mode. You have demonstrated quite convincingly that a lot of young people are dying of Covid in Florida. Thanks."

    COVID-19 Deaths in Florida since March 1, 2020:
    Under 16 = 51
    16 - 29 = 519
    30 - 39 = 1,385
    40 - 49 = 3, 257
    50 - 59 = 7,659
    60 - 64 = 6,465
    65+ = 62,840
    http://ww11.doh.state.fl.us/comm/_partners/covid19_report_archive/covid19-data/covid19_data_latest.pdf

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  36. For some reason, the blanket immunity against lawsuits is still in place.

    I guess tin foil hat insults change the facts in some people's minds.

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  37. DeSantis said the vaccine is a tool of the elite? What the hell, does he think he's now Joe sixpack??

    Do as you wish people. Looks like some commenters missed their bedtime.

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  38. Government putting out drugs that do not work.

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  39. I’m not anti vax BUT Joe Biden told me if I got the vaccine I wouldn’t get COVID. I’m double vaxed and boosted and I’ve had it twice. CDC Director Wolinsky has had 4 shots and she has it now. Florida was open for business compared to the lockdown states, has an elderly population, and their results weren’t much worse then the rest of the country.

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    Replies
    1. Yet you appear to be alive.

      Delete
    2. Yup. Just came back from my run. If we reduced obesity by just 10% in this country are health care costs and Covid death rates would drop precipitously. Bernie did it. If that miserable bastard did it anyone can lol.

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  40. How many more people have to die unexpectedly and/or suddenly until you mrna addicts wake up? Perhaps it doesn't matter since you've already killed your immune systems. Sad. I feel for all of you.

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  41. Fauci sleeps on a mattress stuffed with cash, after dining on mutton and lamb.

    Get it?

    Sheep!

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  42. Did you see what else came out today? Our school children are way behind in math and science because of school lockdowns that should have been lifted long before they were. The testing in math especially is a historic step backwards. Thanks to Randy Weingarten and the teachers union our kids suffered needlessly. Selfish bastards.

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  43. Desantis is going to beat Crist by double digits and has an approval rating of 53%. He’s popular and the libs are scared of him.

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  44. The problem with those who won't vaccinate is that they increase the danger to everyone else.

    How ironic that they like to call themselves "patriots". Quite the opposite, I'd say.

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    Replies
    1. How so? We now know the vaccine doesn’t keep you from getting it. I’m twice vaxed and boosted and I’ve had it twice. It keeps you from serous illness and death. If you’re vaxed why do you care? CDC Director has it right now as we speak. Fauci had it. Biden had it. All vaxed and boosted.

      Delete
  45. "
    COVID-19 Deaths in Florida since March 1, 2020:
    Under 16 = 51
    16 - 29 = 519
    30 - 39 = 1,385
    40 - 49 = 3, 257
    50 - 59 = 7,659
    60 - 64 = 6,465
    65+ = 62,840"


    Thanks for making abundantly clear how many younger people died of Covid in Fl. Nearly 20,000 below the age of 65. No wonder the median age is so low.

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  46. Get it?

    Sheep!"


    If you want to see sheep, go to Putin puppet Steve Lynch's facebook page and watch them all go "Baaaaaaaa!" every time he farts out of his mouth.

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  47. We are two weeks out from an election. The top voter concerns are the economy/inflation. Crime. The border. And to a lesser extent abortion. All of a sudden Bernie wants to talk about Covid lol.

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  48. Who handled Covid better Wolf with the harsh lockdowns or Desantis? Overall results are similar except Desantis prioritized elderly folks for vaccines not fat young people.

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  49. "Thanks for making abundantly clear how many younger people died of Covid in Fl. Nearly 20,000 below the age of 65."

    Great, now do NY, NJ, PA, MI and what the hell, since we're now doing absolute numbers and not rates (anything to support the narrative), go ahead and do CA too.

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  50. Um, I'm not the one who pretended to be a statistician. That was one of you antivaxers who dug that hole. And as for other states, there already is a link to the data from them. With some exceptions here and there like Utah and Alaska, the red states have a higher incidence of covid deaths.

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  51. "We are two weeks out from an election. The top voter concerns are the economy/inflation. Crime. The border. And to a lesser extent abortion. All of a sudden Bernie wants to talk about Covid lol."

    This post is about vaccines bc flu season is just around the corner and, from all indications, is going to be nasty.

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  52. Bernie, there’s a theory floating around that it was big pharma themselves that manufactured this anti-vax movement because in the near future, there will be mRNA vaccines that will cure certain cancers. But the money in cancer diagnosis is long-term chemo and radiation treatment. If you indoctrinate people to mistrust vaccines now, there’s a good chance they’ll choose “traditional” methods of therapy instead of a one and done vaccine. Makes sense to me, what do you think?

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  53. This blog has been inundated with trolls, it's barely worth commenting any more.

    If any SANE PEOPLE are still reading just remember you're not alone...science is real, facts matter, vaccines save lives.

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  54. @4:00 PM you also have to remember that under DeSatin you cannot have any other underlying conditions or other mitigating factors or you will not be consider dying because of COVID. So there are a lot more then the published numbers which COIVD may have not been the specific registered cause of death on the certificate but may have been a major contributor.

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  55. Um….speaking of statistics, these guys are far better at it than you or I, and they’ve done a full age-adjusted calculation for the states (not just adding up age groups).

    https://www.bioinformaticscro.com/blog/states-ranked-by-age-adjusted-covid-deaths/

    I’m sure you can play whatever good state/bad state games you want to play, but Florida (which is what we’ve been focusing on right?) fared quite favorably on the list.

    Um…and then there’s this quote from the biometrics site:

    “In the end, some states that adopted dramatically divergent policies had comparable outcomes (Florida and California, for example).”

    I wonder what’s worse, an anti-vaxxer (which I'm not by-the-way) or a data-denier.

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  56. 7:57 PM

    DeSatin huh? I'm glad our host is so against partisan attacks.

    Gee, what could go wrong by demonizing your political opponents?

    https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/suspect-arrested-following-beating-of-gop-elections-worker-in-hialeah-police-report-shows/

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  57. After all the ugly things said by the right about Ds, you complain about someone twisting the name of a GOP President wannabe? I see. Get a grip. Take a pill.

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  58. That logic is like saying more people died from covid under Biden than under Trump totally rhetorical but illustrates the same logic that you propound here. It's an oversimplification used to put forth an agenda, and is everything that is wrong with politics today.

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  59. DeSatin is not my political opponent he is a self absorbed sleaze bag who wants to make Trump lok like a pacifist and teh wanna bee dictator that he is . DeSatin wants everyone under his control to bow to his whim to appease his less the intelligent following of senile old farts. He wants to manipulate rules, data, and your life for his advantage and those who feed his future dictatorship. And by the way I spend time in Florida in the winter and have had friends who have been hospitalized for COVID to then be determined that they died from heart failure, blood issues, chronic lung issues an other thins. Some of these people had live 20 or 30 years with the issues but died within weeks of contracting COVID. Yes data was manipulate by the way things were categorized.

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