Meatloaf Was A Trumper, So People Immediately Assumed The 74 Year Old Died Of COVID

Every 3 months-- for the rest of my life-- I have to go to the hospital and get a chemo-light infusion. I've been doing it for several years now and it's gradually become less of a burden... from a process that took 6-8 hours to one that takes less than an hour. But this month, my doctor didn't set up my appointment. When I asked her why, she told me that she didn't feel it was safe right now and that we should wait for the pandemic to dissipate. A third of the hospital's employees were either sick or quarantining after exposure. She doesn't want to bring me into a situation with a risk of exposure-- and I've already had my 4th shot and a dose of a new anti-COVID antibody called Evusheld-- tixagevimab + cilgavimab... probably more effective than drinking urine.

And speaking of drinking urine, if you're into statistics at all, you may be interested in knowing that Republicans are more likely to get COVID than anyone else. Yesterday, Philip Bump looked at that in his Washington Post column, Those least likely to worry about getting covid (Republicans) have been those most likely to get covid. He reminded his readers that "Since early in the pandemic, there have been a variety of ways in which views of the situation fall along partisan lines. For example, Republicans have consistently expressed less concern about contracting the coronavirus than have Democrats-- a view that correlates to being less likely to get vaccinated, wear a mask or reduce public interactions. We might not be surprised, then, by new data from YouGov polling conducted for The Economist: Republicans are significantly more likely to report having contracted the virus than are Democrats.

Bump wrote that less-vaccinated counties are more likely to see more cases per resident and that "vaccination rates correlate to the 2020 vote." He also noted that "The places with the most deaths, even now, are places that voted more heavily for Trump and have lower vaccination rates."

Yesterday the U.S. had the most new cases (692,320) and the most reported new deaths (2,700). The country is now 63% fully vaccinated (if you consider 2 jabs "fully vaccinated") but the half dozen states with the lowest vaccination rates are still all Trump states, where too many people have failed prey to insane conspiracy theories and misguided ideology:

• Idaho- 48% fully vaccinated (63.8% Trump)

• Wyoming- 49% fully vaccinated (69.9% Trump)

• Alabama- 49% fully vaccinated (62.0% Trump)

• Mississippi- 50% fully vaccinated (57.6% Trump)

• Louisiana- 51% fully vaccinated (58.5% Trump)

• Arkansas- 52% fully vaccinated (62.4% Trump)

Normal people are starting to get fed up. Not that Howard Stern is normal, but he speaks to a lot of them and Wednesday he was ranting against anti-vaxxers. "People] have been told you will die if you get the vaccine. Some of you will live, but most of you will die. [These people] don’t trust our government. They think that there’s some conspiracy to turn them into a magnet or something like this. They think they are going to become magnetized if they take the vaccine. I’ve taken this vaccine three times, and the worst side effect is for a day, I had a little bit of a headache. No one’s sitting there conspiring against you. Americans don’t want to create a vaccine that’s going to turn you into a robot or magnetize you. There’s enough Americans now have taken it. Look at us as a sampling where nothing has happened to us. It’s time for you to get it. Now, if you don’t get it, in my America, all hospitals would be closed to you. You’re going to go home and die. That is what you should get. Absolutely."

On previous shows, Stern had noted that anti-vaxxers are "imbeciles" and recently said that "When are we gonna stop putting up with the idiots in this country and just say it’s mandatory to get vaccinated? Fuck ’em. Fuck their freedom. I want my freedom to live. I want to get out of the house already. I want to go next door and play chess. I want to go take some pictures."