Let’s be clear: Fauci is a good guy trying to keep us all safe, while Jordan, even on his good days, is an ass. With that out of the way, let’s proceed to this exchange with Dr. Fauci on April 15, 2021, in which he rants about “freedom” and “rights.” Well guess what, the 560,000 dead Americans have no freedom or rights. There’s no such thing as total freedom; every society has rules. As the saying goes: “Your freedom to swing your fist stops where my nose begins.” Government has the power, right, and moral obligation to protect its citizens. If you won’t comply with mask and social distancing rules, and that means you can’t shop for groceries where I do, you chose that. You have no right to infect me, and I don’t have to put up with your reckless behavior. There are even laws against suicide, so don’t say society can’t enforce public health measures, including for your own good, and whether you like it is immaterial. As for when these protections will be lifted, Dr. Fauci doesn’t know, but the longer Republicans like Jordan keep fighting efforts to defeat Covid-19, the longer it will take.
The folks we send to Congress should have the ability to be a hard nosed ass. To be an advocate for their constituents. To draw out truth. To be a lawyer. He is asking Fauci a question that Fauci should be able to answer. Even if his answer is we will forever wear masks because this is the new norm and public health policy is now determined by the lowest common denominator.
My wearing a mask or not wearing a mask has not been a factor in those 560,000 deaths, or even in one of those deaths. I have not had covid and since I have not been a host cannot give the disease to anyone. I have also been vaccinated. This is the most effective thing I or any individual can do on the infection front other than being infected and recovering and being inoculated that way. You should be far more concerned if I wash my hands than if I wear a mask. Even then how many people do you have face to face chats for 10 minutes or more? If the longest chat of your day outside of your house is with the checkout clerk I do hope you are not in front of me in the checkout line, and the checker needs their boss to have a chat with them unless you have a serious discussion about what the price posted on the can of green beans was in the aisle and why is it more at the stand. Your behavior in the checkout line should not inconvenience me, and you should not be chatting or in line long enough that social distancing or masking makes a bit of difference in the real world. If you wish to wear a mask do so. If I am in Beijing I will wear a mask because of the cities air pollution. If there are fires and smoke this summer I may wear a mask, but I won’t expect you to do so or anyone else.
When people have had enough and realize there is some degree of social control and hocus pocus involved in some of this and that solidarity is required and everyone tells a store, bus, plane, baseball field enough and everyone takes the masks off and tell the authorities no and ask now what are you going to do? Close? Serve us? Arrest us all?
Right now on the border the conditions and existence of covid in the folks in the facilities makes a mockery of your line of thought. There are not masks, kids cannot be distanced, and at least 10% have covid. So maybe the net wave is the immigrant wave. Why let these people in the country as they could kill an American? Why can’t the Immigration and Border control enforce public health measures?
First of all, Jordan is grandstanding. This is political theater to entertain ignoramuses, not responsible policy debate. Second, Fauci can’t answer the question, nor can any other medical scientist, because nobody knows. Third, it’s great that you’ve been vaccinated, but the majority of Americans have not; as of today, only 23% of adults (and nobody under age 16) has been fully vaccinated, far less than needed for “herd immunity.” Vaccine access is still limited. Fourth, the vaccine is not a panacea, it’s only another tool to prevent Covid’s spread, and it doesn’t eliminate the need for other preventive measures. Note that you still have a 10%-15% chance of getting infected. Much less than without, but not zero. Call it social control if you want, but you don’t have a right to drive drunk, and ignoring the Covid safety rules also endangers others. You said you were in the Air Force; the military is all about teamwork, so you learned to be antisocial somewhere else, probably from listening to political nonsense of the sort that Jordan sells. What’s happening on the border isn’t relevant to this.