McAuliffe Pans Youngkin's COVID Stance

by John Semmens

Former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic candidate for Virginia governor, sharply criticized Republican opponent Glenn Youngkin, saying that “like Trump, he refuses to support vaccine and mask mandates. He wants to preserve the right of people to decide for themselves whether to wear a mask or get vaccinated.”

Youngkin didn't deny McAuliffe's accusations, saying “I personally am vaccinated. I recommend that others get vaccinated. But I draw the line at oredering people to take a medicine that they don't want to take. One of things that makes America great is the freedom to choose. It is the job of every elected official to preserve that freedom. It's what I will do if elected governor.”

McAuliffe pounced on Youngkin's “admission of irresponsibility. Most intelligent people recognize that the whole purpose of government is to ensure the health and safety of the population. This, of necessity, includes requiring everyone to do the things that the government determines they need to do to accomplish this objective. Voters can count on me to mandate vaccinations, masks, passports, lockdowns—whatever I deem would be best for everyone under my jurisdiction.”

In related news, after a study testing 1.4 millionblood samples, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) now estimates that 80% of Americans 16 and older now have antibodies to COVID. These antibodies were acquired thru vaccination or prior infection. The conclusions drawn from this study are (1) the risk of fatality from COVID is probably half that reported thus far and (2) we are probably very close to “herd immunity.”