Thread by @FreedomFriesInc

(1) Even in his announcement about testing +ve for Covid Lindsey Graham fails to provide correct information about Covid that might help us save lives.

Awareness of what vaccination does is low. He could have helped clear that up.

https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/1422271969165201412

(2) In the first of two tweets about it, he says he tested positive for Covid "even after being vaccinated."

He missed a great opportunity to say the purpose is to protect you from the infection EFFECTS that hospitalize & kill, not the infection itself.

A crucial point!

(3) Because the Delta variant is so much more transmissible than earlier forms of Covid, case numbers are exploding across America.

That means hospitals and ICUs are filling up. Some parts of the country now have NO available ICU beds for non Covid cases!

(4) Remember India back in March-April? Families buying an oxygen tank on the black market for $1,000 to keep someone alive while waiting outside the hospital building, let alone the ICU. That's not medicine, that's insanity.

THIS is why we must #GetVaccinated ASAP.

(5) The next problem in Lindsey Graham's announcement:

"I started having flu-like symptoms Saturday night and went to the doctor this morning." Monday.

Did he make a point of isolating at home and PHONING for advice? He doesn't say.

(6) Here's the official medical advice.

If you have any Covid symptoms (find out what they are) or learn you are a "contact" of someone with it, you must immediately self isolate, contact your doctor or other medical service WITHOUT GOING THERE and wait for instructions.

(7) Even better, take a few minutes to educate yourself on all this, & stock up on supplies for self isolation at home. Enforce your isolation by not allowing anyone to visit during that time. Use NO CONTACT delivery processes, & sanitize anything that comes into your home.

(8) Tweet No. 2 contains even more misinformation.

Sweetheart, an actual sinus infection doesn't feel "mild." In any case, Covid effects are on a spectrum from asymptomatic to requiring being placed into an induced coma on a ventilator in an ICU.

https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/1422272144059289602

(9) He cannot possibly know if this will be true:

"I will be quarantining for ten days."

He could deteriorate. If he starts improving from this point without hospitalization then the ten days kicks in once you have been afebrile for 24 hours (or something like that.)

(10) While not untrue, the rest of his second tweet is a monumental missed opportunity to promote the #GetVaccinated message and point the public to RELIABLE medical information, such as that of the CDC. Or, he could have linked to his state's info:

scdhec.gov/covid19/covid-…

(11) See, I'm of the view that US Senators can do a lot of good by thinking of their own constituents' needs and being seen to be part of the solution, not the problem.

Like Ted Cruz should have gotten right the first time, when Texans were facing freezing temps in January.

(12) Lindsey Graham is near-universally hated - by seditious MAGA & patriotic Never Trumpers & patriotic Democrat supporters alike.

You can see why, in these two tweets. They are all about him. While America descends into it's worst Covid wave so far.

(Source in next tweet):

(13) The source for that horrifying image is: covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tra…

It's a page at the CDC website that I encourage y'all to study and reflect upon, each day.

The worst hit counties are in both MAGA and non MAGA "country."

(14) During and after this pandemic, every one of us is negatively impacted in some way by the effects of the perennially grifting anti-vaxxer movement.

Heart and cancer patients needing an ICU bed will struggle to get one.

The skilled worker shortages are about to explode.

(15) That's right, it's not just the US that is suffering because of these selfish, ungrateful people.

Each country's situation is unique. Anti-vaxxer disinfo and misinfo swirls around the globe.

Most people don't yet realize what the Delta variant means for a country.

(16) After the first and second US Covid waves, a degree of apathy crept in, coupled with some now-changed medical advice about how Covid spreads.

Delta survives on surfaces for some time. It can hang in the air indoors. We need to follow the original advice from March 2020.

(17) I recommend clicking on the link to that chart and playing around with the parameters so you understand it. The rise in deaths over the month of July 2021 is steep.

Chart: covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tra…

(18) You had the first and second waves in March and July 2020 or thereabouts. Then in the Northern Hemisphere winter the death numbers were really bad.

Coinciding with the presidential transition period, during which the sitting president barely mentioned Covid at all.

(19) The current wave, I called it the fourth, but I missed seeing that bump in April 2021.

Whatever this "Delta wave" ends up being called, it requires us all to brush up on our Covid knowledge, including the updated info that emanates from researchers around the world daily.

(20) I really don't care anymore what the pandemic politicizers say about it. I'm back to facing the chance I might die directly or indirectly - because I have certain medical conditions that make me "vulnerable."

The vax is a must for me, & my sense of relief is palpable.

(21) I got vaccinated for my own sake but later realized it really does help others. Countless others I will never meet.

It reduces demand on healthcare resources.

Even in the US there won't be enough ICU beds. Because skilled workers are needed to provide the treatment 24/7.

(22) And don't forget, each Covid ICU bed takes away an ICU bed needed for all other illness and injury causes.

In countries like AU and NZ, RNs will be needed as vaccinators AND treatment providers. There are not enough of them.

We are facing a disaster by year's end.

(23) While countries like AU and NZ (31 million in total) see massive unused vaccination resources in the US, we have no guarantee here that our healthcare systems will hold up to a full on Delta variant wave.

American friends, you have the chance rn to #GetVaccinated in time.

(24) I don't know what else to say about Covid vaccination than what I have already said. Freedom doesn't mean much when everything around you is falling down.

The basics of life come first.

Source: simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

(25) The freedom that Americans talk about is actually quite similar to the freedom enjoyed by citizens of other industrialized countries. It was most recently won between 1939 and 1945.

My mindset has been "on a war footing" for 20 months now.

(26) The US Constitution does allow for governments to impinge on individual rights during a genuine emergency, which this clearly is.

During WWII some resisted that, & they were rightly shunned by most Americans. Some were imprisoned.

You can learn a lot by studying history.

(27) Your rights end at the line where my rights begin. Essentially.

I don't support mandatory mass vaccination (because it backfires). I do support that in certain places eg healthcare employment, the military, first responders etc.

Enough is enough.

(28) And of course I am not suggesting people with genuine, documented medical issues like allergies should be mandated in this way. There are alternative ways to meet the needs of that small group.

I'm talking about the willful ignorance of the unvaccinated working in an ER.

(29) The needs of the medically vulnerable (including ~50 million Americans under 12 years of age who cannot be vaccinated) are not getting enough airtime.

We are sick and tired of being ignored and told to take unnecessary risks every day because of some people's selfishness.

(30) OK, things to go &do offline now, lol. I just wanted to specify the ways Lindsey Graham erred in his two tweets about his recent Covid diagnosis.

I can easily wander onto the topic of the wider implications of those who should know better, not doing better.

AKA reality.