In 2020, the title for the Nation’s Worst Governor indisputably went to New York’s Cuomo. But in 2021, Governor Kate Brown of Oregon is trying to make an early bid for the job by vaccinating teachers ahead of seniors.
Brown’s plan to put her union base, who are not at risk, ahead of seniors who are, is so terrible that it’s drawing a backlash even from other Democrats.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown wants as many schools as possible to resume in-person learning by Feb. 15 while the COVID-19 pandemic continues. To make that happen, she plans to vaccinate all of Oregon’s 100,000 or so school employees in the next few weeks — in the process putting them at the front of the line ahead of the elderly, people with pre-existing health conditions and other groups of non-medical frontline workers.
The in-person learning pretext is nonsense.
Schools have not been shown to spread the virus. While teachers have put on a show of victimhood, marching around with coffins, and claiming that they’ll die if they have to do their jobs, the bottom line is that they’re a union behaving in the usual fashion.
And even when they’ve been allowed to go to the head of the line for vaccines, they’ve refused to return to teaching.
So this isn’t about reopening schools. It’s about rewarding a powerful and influential segment of the Democrat base. But this hasn’t stopped Governor Brown from suggesting that seniors should be willing to die to reopen schools.
“I know so many Oregon grandparents are happy to hold out just two more weeks in an effort to help get their grandchildren back into the classroom as quickly and safely as possible,” Brown said.
Grandparents are dying. Children aren’t.
The only obstacle to children going back to class is the teachers’ union. And when the two weeks are up, don’t count on anything changing.
Brown defended her position in a heated press conference last Friday, saying that the cost of keeping schools closed was too great, due to the impact of school closures on the economy, children’s learning and students’ health and well being.
Really, she just realized this now?
It wasn’t too great all year, but now it’s suddenly too great.
If vaccinations for seniors are delayed, it will result in more deaths. Using Oregon’s own demographics and mortality data, it is possible to estimate how many Oregonians in each age group might contract COVID-19, and eventually die.
Oregon reported 8,150 new cases of COVID-19 the week of Jan. 4.
If transmission doesn’t change, it’s possible that 1,400 adults over 60 could be infected each week that vaccines are delayed, and around 89 of those people will eventually pass away.
Small price to pay for another payoff to the teachers’ union system that has already destroyed American education.
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