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Salon @Salon

Fox News issues company-wide memo requiring employees to disclose vaccine status

ift.ttFox News issues company-wide policy requiring employees to disclose vaccine statusThe network has for months railed against vaccine mandates and sowed doubt over public health precautions

We’ve known for months that COVID-19 has become a “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” with the chances of serious illness, hospitalization and death greatly diminished for those who get the vaccine.

We’ve heard the stories of unvaccinated family members, conspiracy theorists and (an ever-growing list of) conservative talk radio hosts whose last regret was that they didn’t trust the science that could have so easily helped them avoid their preventable death.

We’ve even heard tales of anti-vaxxers telling the nurses who were about to intubate them that they’re ready for the vaccine now.

But now we’re also hearing more stories detailing the deadly results of the anti-vaxxers’ selfish behavior: The deaths of those who simply needed regular treatment in the hospital, but were denied because “freedom-loving” anti-vaxxers had taken all the available beds.

Death by anti-vaxxer.

I wrote last month about the death of Daniel Wilkinson, who served two deployments in Afghanistan and came home with a Purple Heart, only to die from easily treated gallstone pancreatitis, despite living in a house three doors down from the local emergency room and close to some of the country’s best hospitals in Houston, Texas.

Similar stories are now emerging in other states: Last month in Kansas, 44-year-old Robert Van Pelt died after complications from a routine procedure. For three days before he died, Kansas hospitals unsuccessfully reached out to 20 states but couldn’t find an ICU bed for his needs because of ICUs being overwhelmed by unvaccinated Covid patients.

This month, Ray Martin DeMonia of Cullman, Alabama (a town in which Trump held a rally last month), died of heart issues after 43 hospitals in three states said they had no ICU bed for him, having been overwhelmed by unvaccinated Covid patients.

Meanwhile, others are suffering unnecessarily.

As Propublica reported today, when 12-year-old Seth Osborn was taken to a Florida emergency room in July, he waited more than six hours before being diagnosed with appendicitis. He was “taken by ambulance to a sister hospital about a half-hour away that was better equipped to perform pediatric emergency surgery,” but “by the time the doctor operated in the early morning hours, Seth’s appendix had burst—a potentially fatal complication.”

Jenny Deam @jenny_deam

“Wait times can now be measured in days” as hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID cases. Other critically ill patients become collateral damage in the scramble for care. My latest from @propublica.

propublica.orgA Boy Went to a COVID-Swamped ER. He Waited for Hours. Then His Appendix Burst.Non-COVID patients are paying a price as the delta variant and low-vaccination rates overwhelm hospitals across the country. “Wait times can now be measured in days,” said an expert.

As Jenny Deam writes:

(Seth) spent five days and four nights in the hospital as doctors pumped his body full of antibiotics to stave off infection from the rupture. The typical hospitalization for a routine appendectomy is about 24 hours.

Even with insurance, the family has been forced to borrow against their house to pay a medical bill of more than $5,000—their share of the initial $48,000 hospital bill.

Also today, The Washington Post reported the story of a pregnant woman who refused the vaccine because she was scared for her baby. She caught Covid, was hospitalized and lost the baby. She is currently fighting for her own life.

Behind it all: The vaccinated elite.

The argument that the supposedly “pro-life” Republican Party is making is that masks and vaccines are matters of personal freedom.

But setting aside existing safety regulations such as seat belts and the multiple vaccine mandates that exist in schools and the military, there’s no freedom living in a country where you can’t get treated for a heart attack or a burst appendix.

There’s no freedom in country where 43 different hospitals in three different states hold up a “No Vacancy” sign as your life slowly slips away.

People who could be saved from non-Covid illnesses are now being denied ICU beds—and dying—simply because Fox News and the GOP want it that way. These hypocritical vaccinated elites are encouraging their viewers and voters to reject masks and stay unvaccinated simply to spread disease and slow the Biden recovery.

If Trump were still President, there is no doubt these same charlatans would be promoting vaccines as enthusiastically as they promoted “Benghazi,” back in the days when four people dying could be turned into a multi-year right-wing scandal.

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Cause of Death: Anti-Vaxxers