Thread by @ASlavitt

COVID Update: What @RonDeSantisFL & @GovAbbott are doing is working as expected. Unfortunate calls this week have confirmed this.

And we are all paying the price. 1/

Abbott & DeSantis prohibited colleges & schools & local authorities from requiring 4 things:
-Vaccines
-Masks
-People being asked for vaccine credentials
-Requirements to submit to testing 2/

As the school year starts, that leaves local politicians, parents, teachers, students & coaches in a tough tough spot.

And it leaves millions of kids under 12 & those who are immunocompromised for one reason or another much more exposed. 3/

If you are a parent or teacher or student, you may want to give this a listen. It’s intended to provide all the details that can be helpful. 4/

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-…

I have spoken this week with college sports leagues, universities, schools & businesses in these states.

-All of them say they want to do the right thing with some combination of testing, vaccines & masks
-None of them will. Very specific & clear threats are preventing them. 5/

In fact one college told me that the governors are doubling down, searching for “loopholes.” They are issuing new EOs to prevent common sense steps (as Abbott did below). 6/

They are threatening the withholding of state funds to people who ask for people to show vaccination status or require masks.

I’m wondering how they would react to the fed government withholding funds based on things they think they should control locally.

They would whine.7/

So while their strategy is getting results, they are doubling down on it.

Let’s look at some of the results…. 8/

In the face of this, who wouldn’t want to make adjustments? They’ve thrown the people of the state in the water, tied their hands, and said “people are free to swim.” 9/

We do have answers:

-Vaccines offer an 8:1 reduction in COVID cases
-Yes, COVID deaths are much better than last year but a lot of people are still dying needlessly
-Even cloth masks if required indoors prevent the majority of inhalation of the virus. 9/

Local jurisdictions are prevented from promising their students, their employees, their customers— and all of their kids by extension— that they are doing their best to keep them safe. 10/

Their peaks will be higher, their hospitalizations will be higher, deaths will increase & more people will suffer.

And they prevent people from acting. 11/

Is requiring you not to be contagious before being around large crowds of other people, millions of whom have no defense, the principal they really want to fight for?

It’s so important to them that they’re willing to sacrifice for it. Sacrifice us that is. /end