Throughout the pandemic that's killed over 600 thousand Americans and upended daily life in the United States for more than a year, Republican lawmakers and media personalities have repeatedly dismissed the severity of the threat, often opting for outright disinformation instead.
Despite swathes of willfully unvaccinated Americans and the stronger, more contagious Delta Variant of the virus continues to spread across the nation, filling hospitals to capacity and endangering countless lives.
Nevertheless, far-right Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio continues to downplay the virus, pitting so-called patriotism against protection.
Just days ago, Jordan tweeted that municipalities and private businesses requiring vaccinations for certain activities was "un-American."
And on Tuesday, Jordan shared a video of the recent University of Wisconsin football game—a crowded event with nearly no masks in sight.
"Real America is done with COVID-19," reveled Jordan.
Real America is done with #COVID19. God bless!https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1434227610393972737\u00a0\u2026— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Rep. Jim Jordan) 1631039654
While it remains to be seen if the multi-thousand person crowd will lead to an uptick in Wisconsin's cases, the sad fact is that "real" America is far from done with the perils of the pandemic.
In Jordan's state of Ohio, conditions are grim. In a month's time, the daily rate of new cases has jumped from 1,742 to 5,874, with hospitalizations up 35 percent and deaths up a whopping 90 percent in the past two weeks. In Congressional District 4, which Jordan represents, there are 11.5 thousand confirmed cases per 100 thousand residents.
This is, sadly, a nationwide phenomenon, especially in red states that Jordan would undoubtedly consider "real" America. Just yesterday, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare announced that residents can no longer rely on being treated at hospitals in the state's northern region due to "a severe shortage of staffing and available beds in the northern area of the state caused by a massive increase in patients with COVID-19 who require hospitalization."
Though vaccines have offered a glimpse of hope, the right's embrace of anti-vaccination conspiracy theories has resulted in the continued refusal of millions in their ranks to get vaccinated, contributing to the virus' ongoing potential to mutate, possibly resulting in the emergence of even more vaccine-resistant variants.
People called Jordan out for his continued false characterization of the state of the pandemic.
\u201cCurrently, 1 in 7 patients in Ohio hospitals is being treated for #COVID19.\n\nTo give you an idea of how fast those numbers are climbing, 2 months ago 1 in 101 patients admitted to the hospital was being treated for COVID.\u201d\n\n https://fox8.com/news/coronavirus/coronavirus-in-ohio-hospitalizations-on-the-rise-in-every-age-group/\u00a0\u2026https://twitter.com/jim_jordan/status/1435310455757713415\u00a0\u2026— Frank Luntz (@Frank Luntz) 1631111915
That this idiot posts this literally 2 hours after the highest COVID hospitalization rates for children ever are reported in Ohio shows he cares nothing for his state, and nothing for children whether they are being molested or dying. https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1435310455757713415\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/oIUpwUxNtA— Kurt Eichenwald (@Kurt Eichenwald) 1631054463
You should be expelled from Congress for this tweet. 506 Americans died YESTERDAY from COVID-19, you sick lout. When is this dangerous, willful stupidity going to become socially taboo? You should be embarrassed of yourself. #MakeStupidityEmbarrassingAgainhttps://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1435310455757713415\u00a0\u2026— Rex Huppke (@Rex Huppke) 1631054104
Gym is right about 647,461 real Americans who are dead from COVID \u2026 they\u2019re done with it.https://twitter.com/jim_jordan/status/1435310455757713415\u00a0\u2026— Moe Davis (@Moe Davis) 1631101374
Since April-May 100,000 vaccine-eligible, yet vaccine defiant Americans have lost their lives from COVID19. \n\n100,000, many if not most our conservative brothers/sisters, unnecessarily died because they believed the disinformation that \u201cReal America is done with #COVID19\u201dhttps://twitter.com/jim_jordan/status/1435310455757713415\u00a0\u2026— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD) 1631058317
His use of the term "Real America" also saw widespread backlash.
This \u201cReal America\u201d talk is pretty transparent. \n\nRepublican lawmakers like Jim Jordan keep trying to depict people existing in objective reality as un-American when I really can\u2019t think of anything more un-American than spreading disinformation that is getting Americans killed.https://twitter.com/jim_jordan/status/1435310455757713415\u00a0\u2026— Ahmed Baba (@Ahmed Baba) 1631056655
I detest this entire use of \u201creal America\u201d and \u201creal Americans\u201d. As opposed to who? Americans who don\u2019t count in your book?https://twitter.com/jim_jordan/status/1435310455757713415\u00a0\u2026— Patrick Chovanec (@Patrick Chovanec) 1631062493
Let's make two points clear:\n\n1. 'Real America' is all of America. All of it.\n\n2. COVID is not done with America. Jim Jordan is putting your health at risk with asinine tweets like this.https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1435310455757713415\u00a0\u2026— Kyle Griffin (@Kyle Griffin) 1631068524
Jordan shows no signs of clarifying his comments.
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