Idaho loosened public health guardrails, and health misinformation flourished

[Nevilledog]

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Audrey Dutton
@audreydutton
"Rope worms" are a fascinating phenomenon. A company in Meridian sells a product that customers believe expels them. "I have large and small critters exiting daily," a customer review says, accompanied by a photo of what is actually a bowel movement.

Idaho loosened public health guardrails, and health misinformation flourished - Idaho Capital Sun
How did Idaho reach a point where people at high risk of death from COVID-19 refuse vaccines, decline hospital care and buy into misinformation?
idahocapitalsun.com
10:30 AM · Dec 22, 2021

https://idahocapitalsun.com/2021/12/22/idaho-loosened-public-health-guardrails-and-health-misinformation-flourished/


The state was ablaze with the delta coronavirus variant in early August, when Connie visited her hometown in eastern Idaho. Connie — who asked we use only her first name due to concerns about blowback on her family — was fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Much of her family was not, including her octogenarian parents.

When she got to Rockland, a tiny farming town with fewer than 300 residents, there was a community picnic at a park. And not a mask in sight.

“For me, coming from California, I was just shocked,” Connie said in an interview this month. “And at this point, I started thinking to myself, ‘This is not good.’”

Photo of a man kissing the top of a woman's head as she sits in a chair with on oxygen cannula
Connie’s father was vaccinated for only a few days when he contracted COVID-19, but he recovered. Connie’s mother did not. (Courtesy photo)
Connie spent her visit trying in vain to persuade her 80-year-old mother that COVID-19 vaccines were safe. By the end of the month, her mother was one of more than 4,000 Idahoans to die of COVID-19.

*snip*

[3Hotdogs]

1. Think I can make $$$

selling my “certified” rope worms?

They’re rare. I only make one or two a day unless I’ve been to Jose’s Mexican restaurant.