The Delta variant continues to run roughshod over parts of the nation that still refuse to take the pandemic seriously. (Or maybe it should be called “the DeSantis variant.”) Right now the national hotspot is Mississippi. AP News recently reported that the Southern state has the highest COVID death rate in the country. And when its governor, Tate Reeves, went on CNN Sunday, host Jake Tapper wouldn’t let him duck some very serious questions.
Wow. Just wow. Thank you, @jaketapper.pic.twitter.com/Okzzf1bkoM
— Jon Cooper
(@joncoopertweets) September 19, 2021
Previously, Reeves had come out against President Joe Biden, who has called for a national vaccine mandate to get cases down. The governor, who also resisted lockdowns early in the pandemic, described it as a “tyrannical-type move.”
But when Reeves showed up on CNN, Tapper was ready. The host pointed out that Mississippi doesn’t just have the worst death rates in the country. “If Mississippi was its own country, you would be second in the world only to Peru in terms of death per capita,” Tapper reminded him. “With all due respect, governor, your way is failing. Are you going to try to change anything to change this horrible statistic from what you’re doing already?”
Did Reeves answer Tapper’s question? Of course not. Instead he suggested the high death rate would lower eventually, claiming it was a “very quick spike” like ones seen in Israel and the United Kingdom. He also attacked Biden, of course.
But Tapper didn’t move on. “My question is, what are you going to do to change this?” Reeves again didn’t answer, putting the onus on people to “protect themselves.”
“So you’re not going to change anything?” Tapper responded.
Reeves eventually said people are singling out “Republican governors” for their handling of the pandemic, failing to note that there’s a reason for that: For the most part, that’s where cases are surging. But it appears the plan of stubborn governors is to just wait it out. In other words, the plan seems to be to do nothing.
(Via The Daily Beast)