It didn't take long for MSNBC to start attacking new Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) on Monday as Stephanie Ruhle Reports guest host Chris Jansing, correspondent Heidi Przybyla, and far-left medical contributor Dr. Kavita Patel all condemned Youngkin's executive order that lifted mask mandates for schools.
Jansing set the stage for Przybyla by trying to tie the order to a raise in hospitalizations: "So as we're talking about Omicron pushing hospitals, Heidi, we’ve got, what, more than two dozen states including Maryland and Virginia who are really having trouble keeping up with the patient load, and there's also a controversy involving an executive order by the just-sworn in Virginia governor? Tell us about that."
Reporting outside a Maryland hospital, Przybyla also tried to connect the two, hyping various school districts that have announced they will not follow the order:
Yeah, Chris, a new executive order from the Virginia governor banning mask mandates in schools. Now, we’ve seen this in other GOP-run states. What makes this different, Chris, is it comes amid the biggest surge yet in cases and positivity rates in Virginia, it comes as kid hospitalizations are up and there are severe staffing shortages in schools. So some of the biggest districts already saying, "no dice, we are not going to abide by this."
Later, Jansing ignored the fact that other states have been able to implement similar policies and keep schools open:
I want to talk about this Virginia, you know, sort of, push back by big school districts saying, “look, governor, you can say all you want that people don't have to wear masks. We're making our folks inside the schools wear masks.” Here we go. Politics of this, continuing to put more stress on an incredibly stressful situation. So, Dr. Patel, look, we know a lot of people are in the mode of we have to live with the virus, but are schools the place to live with it right now?
Patel also ignored contradictory evidence by holding up masks as the ultimate protector: "No, they're the absolute last place to live with them, especially if we want to do everything possible to keep schools open in person."
Claiming that "teachers, students, staff, faculty, parents, everyone is united in, kind of, trying to doing what we have to do to keep schools safe" (except those meddling Republicans), Patel argued we need indefinite masking because "even in the 12 to 18 or 5 to 11-year-old age range we still have very low vaccination rates."
Patel wrapped by acknowledging that children are less likely to get seriously sick than adults, but excessive caution is still needed because, "no reason to experiment with children being sick and out of school because that happens when they get COVID."
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Here is a transcript for the January 17 show:
MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle Reports
January 17, 2022
9:18 AM ETCHRIS JANSING: So as we're talking about Omicron pushing hospitals, Heidi, we’ve got, what, more than two dozen states including Maryland and Virginia who are really having trouble keeping up with the patient load, and there's also a controversy involving an executive order by the just-sworn in Virginia governor? Tell us about that.
HEIDI PRZYBYLA: Yeah, Chris, a new executive order from the Virginia governor banning mask mandates in schools. Now, we’ve seen this in other GOP-run states. What makes this different, Chris, is it comes amid the biggest surge yet in cases and positivity rates in Virginia, it comes as kid hospitalizations are up and there are severe staffing shortages in schools, so some of the biggest districts already saying, “no dice, we're not going to abide by this.” At the same time the new Virginia governor also agreeing that we needed an emergency order to staff up at hospitals because here is what we're seeing, both in Virginia and in Maryland, where I am at the Laurel Medical Center, that they're having a real hard time dealing with this surge. What they've done here is they've devoted three floors to this facility here in Laurel only for COVID patients to deal with the overflow, Chris, and secondly, this is a problem that probably there is not enough attention on at this time but people need to know, stop abusing the emergency room for COVID testing. This is what doctors are telling us, that we're seeing a lot of people come into the emergency room simply to get tested for COVID, so what they did was they created here a drive-thru testing site that is staffed, in part, by the National Guard, Chris. Doctors here I speak with say, look, we expected a post-holiday surge, but there are some things that we just could not prepare for with this omicron variant.
(....)
JANSING: So, Dr. Patel, look, I want to talk about this Virginia, you know, sort of, push back by big school districts saying, “look, governor, you can say all you want that people don't have to wear masks. We're making our folks inside the schools wear masks.” Here we go. Politics of this, continuing to put more stress on an incredibly stressful situation. So, Dr. Patel, look, we know a lot of people are in the mode of we have to live with the virus, but are schools the place to live with it right now?
KAVITA PATEL: No, they're the absolute last place to live with them, especially if we want to do everything possible to keep schools open in person and let's be clear, I think teachers, students, staff, faculty, parents, everyone is united in, kind of, trying to doing what we have to do to keep schools safe but that does involve wearing masks and why? Chris, let’s be clear, even in the 12-to-18 or 5-to-11-year-old age range we still have very low vaccination rates. Vaccines are not perfect in the sense that they don't prevent you from getting infected but as you just heard from Heidi and we're seeing in clinics and hospitals around the country, they really do prevent that severe illness and you don't want to be that statistic and I'm speaking directly to the adults in households, children even though relative to adults may have milder illness but one, no reason to experiment with children being sick and out of school because that happens when they get COVID and, number two, think about the ripple effect, they can become chains in transmission to someone who is going to visit that hospital in Laurel, Maryland, and can't actually go in because they test positive. So, think about just, kind of, what's happening and it just seems ludicrous, declaring a public health emergency and also getting rid of the one very thing that we could all do to keep children safe inside a school.
