President Joe Biden rang in the new year with a fictional account of COVID-19, just like the ones he peddled the year before, claiming, “This continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
The stats suggest otherwise. The Omicron variant is hitting hardest those who live in states with high vaccination rates — and high rates of masking.
So with COVID now being disproportionately caught — and presumably distributed — by the masked and vaccinated, what’s the justification for authoritarian mask and vax mandates?
New York Times figures show that during the first week of the year (Jan. 1-7), the 10 states with the most COVID cases per capita were (in order) Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Delaware, Florida, Connecticut, Illinois, Hawaii and Maryland. All 10 have higher vaccination rates than the nation as a whole; six have rates in the top 10. Nine — all but Florida — have mask mandates for schools, and several — such as New York — have wider mask mandates.
On the flip side, of the 10 states with the fewest COVID cases per capita, six have vaccination rates lower than the national average. Idaho, the state with the lowest vaccination rate, also has the lowest number of per-capita COVID cases. Eight of these 10 states don’t have mask mandates.
Omicron stats show we don’t need mask mandates or vaccine requirements
Omicron stats show we don’t need mask mandates or vaccine requirements
Ericson Report 