In 2020, Reichsstatthalter Andy Beshear (NSDAP-KY) tried to use the fear of COVID-19 to push through authoritarian orders, including a ban on groups of more than ten people, from more than two separate households, gathering together for Thanksgiving. I am proud to say that that our family violated that ban, and would do so again.
Fortunately, Kentuckians banded together in the voting booth in November of 2020, and elected a Republican super-majority in both chambers of the General Assembly, and the Republicans, once the legislative session began, quickly limited the Reichsstatthalter’s executive authority. Naturally, the Governor, with the help of his toady Democrat judge, Philip Shepherd, temporarily blocked the legislature’s actions, but, eventually — and far too long eventually — the state Supreme Court ruled that the laws passed were constitutional.
And now, here it is, two years later, and the Governor is trying to stoke fear again:
No KY counties are at high COVID levels but 10 are medium, CDC says. See the map
by Aaron Mudd | Sunday, November 20, 2022 | 7:00 AM EST
During his weekly update Thursday covering the state of the coronavirus pandemic in Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear underscored one dismal data point that he said, “I know we can do better than.”
Beshear was talking about the number of Kentuckians who still haven’t received their Omicron booster for the COVID-19 vaccine — even as seasonal flu and RSV cases spike and shutter schools or fill up beds in Kentucky’s children’s hospitals.
Beshear cited data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There’s more at the original.
One interesting thing about the article: if you look at the ‘tab’ at the top of the screen, the article isn’t entitled what I have noted, but “Where do I need a mask in KY? See latest CDC COVID-19 data”. That must have been the article title when reporter Aaron Horn submitted it, but either he or one of the Lexington Herald-Leader’s editors thought better of it.
“Current data from the CDC indicates only 8% of Kentuckians 5 and older have gotten the Omicron booster,” Beshear said.
From the Lexington Herald-Leader, November 20, 2022. Note that, even subdued, most counties are low transmission in the bordering states as well as Kentucky. Click to enlarge.
That might be a bit deceiving, given that it reflects only those tests about which the government knows, while many people are using the at-home tests. But that also implies that, regardless of any home test results, people aren’t getting sick enough from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, regardless of variant, that they have been seeking professional medical attention.
The issue is compounded by the fact that the flu is making a roaring comeback after all but disappearing in the U.S. in 2020 to 2021. Additionally, fewer than half of Kentucky’s children got the flu shot during the 2021-22 flu season.
Uhhh, if “fewer than half” of the kids in the Bluegrass State got the flu shots last winter, and influenza “all but disappeared” in 2021, maybe, just maybe, the flu shots weren’t really needed last winter.
Of course, kids were still under health restrictions last winter, with schools either closed or operating under serious restrictions.
As Kentuckians enter the holiday season, Beshear said, “Get the (flu) shot. Get the booster, and … if you’re concerned about your health or other conditions, consider wearing a mask at indoor get-togethers right now. It’s not forever.”
At least the Governor isn’t trying to make it an order this time, but, then again, he can’t. It isn’t just that the 2020 elections resulted in 75-25 and 30-8 Republican majorities in the state House of Representatives and Senate, respectively, but the 2022 elections upped those to 80-20 and 31-7. 🙂 It’s hardly a surprise, though: the Democrats didn’t even contest 44 of the 100 House seats, or 10 of the 19 Senate seats up for election!
I might have ignored this story completely had I not noticed Mr Horn’s original article title. “Where do I need a mask in KY?” The answer is nowhere!
Kentuckians specifically, and Americans overall, are just plain done with masks. Oh, I still see a couple, now and then, but I’d guess that well over 90% of the public are not wearing them anymore.
That might be worldwide as well: I saw a few, but not many, in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv last week, and only a few of the airline passengers were wearing the silly things either, despite us being crammed in a long aluminum tube for hours on end.
Yes, things could change, but at least right now, COVID-19 has changed into something of no more concern than the flu. Yes, it will be serious enough in some people to require hospitalization, and can even result in death, but the same is true of influenza, and we haven’t resorted to the idiocy that attended COVID-19 when it came to the flu.
It’s simply something with which we have to live, just as we have to live with the flu.