Florida may be dealing with record case counts and pressure on hospitals around the state, but to Rubio, that’s just a distraction from what really matters.
“We have media hysteria over COVID ‘cases’ because ‘bad news’ sells,” Rubio suggested.
“But what matters isn’t how many people have COVID, what matters is how many people are seriously ill,” he counseled. “The real story here is how for the fully vaccinated the risk of serious illness appears to be near zero.”
Rubio’s tweet did not define what “serious illness” is or what it means to be “seriously ill,” but his message was clear: Case count coverage doesn’t matter. He did qualify his tweet with another tweet.
\\We\ have\ media\ hysteria\ over\ Covid\ \“cases\”\ because\ \“bad\ news\”\ sells\ \\But\ what\ matters\ isn\’t\ how\ many\ people\ have\ Covid\,\ what\ matters\ is\ how\ many\ people\ are\ seriously\ ill\\The\ real\ story\ here\ is\ how\ for\ the\ fully\ vaccinated\ the\ risk\ of\ serious\ illness\ appears\ to\ be\ near\ zero\\&mdash\;\ Marco\ Rubio\ \(\@marcorubio\)\ \August\ 2\,\ 2021\\\ \\\
“If at this time last year someone had told us there was a medicine that made COVID no worse than the flu we would have been very happy. Well now we do. Use it.”
The Senator’s comments came after a weekend in which multiple news outlets covered Florida breaking the record for pandemic hospitalizations on a single day with more than 10,000 patients admitted, nearly 18 months since the first cases of COVID-19 were found in Florida hospitals. The new mark of 21,683 cases was more than 4,600 over the day before. Hospitals around the state are dealing with capacity issues.
Rubio’s focus on how the “fully vaccinated” have a “near zero” risk of “serious illness” is also worth noting. For Rubio, it comes down to personal choice, he said last month.
“But at the end of the day, it’s up to people to make that decision,” Rubio said on CBS This Morning. “The government, in a free society such as ours, there’s only so much that they can do. They can provide information. We can debunk things that aren’t true. We can provide access. It’s ultimately up to people individually to make that decision.”
“At the end of the day, the vaccine is the vaccine. It’s a human thing and you either take it, or you don’t. There are some people who don’t want to be vaccinated, and you won’t convince them. I have family members; I have friends that I’ve known for a long time, smart, educated people who just refuse to do it,” Rubio added.
This article first appeared at Florida Politics.
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This article appears in Jul 29 – Aug 4, 2021.