ICYMI: Mike DeWine Has “Failed” Ohio on COVID-19 Response
January 4, 2022
For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, January 4, 2022
“Ohio is flailing in a ‘code blue’ medical emergency. The patient is critical. But the rapid response team got waylaid. By politics.”
Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, an Ohio Capital Journal commentary eviscerates Mike DeWine today as he and fellow Republicans have “failed the public” in response to surging COVID-19 cases statewide. Instead of standing up to “do something,” DeWine is showing exactly what kind of leader he is by putting politics above the health and safety of Ohioans, as cases continue to skyrocket.
“Gov. Mike DeWine, never a profile in courage, refused to buck the right-wingers calling the shots with his administration. He could have challenged their unconstitutional seizure of his authority, but snagging a second term took precedence over taking a stand in the public interest. He chose to acquiesce to the MAGA cult for his own career and never looked back,” writes the Ohio Capital Journal.
“Mike DeWine is only concerned about his own political prospects and Ohioans are paying the price for the lack of leadership every day. As Ohio continues to set record case numbers, it’s far past time for DeWine to grow a spine and stand up to his own party instead of risking the lives of Ohioans for his own political gain,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.
Read more on DeWine’s lack of leadership from Ohio Capital Journal here and below:
- Paging Dr. Amy Acton. Help! We are rudderless and reeling. Our health care system is crashing.
- Ohio is flailing in a “code blue” medical emergency. The patient is critical. But the rapid response team got waylaid. By politics.
- Today, a state once nationally lauded for its prudent, pre-emptive shutdowns that successfully blunted Ohio’s pandemic toll, is cited as a standout example of abject failure in public health.
- In melodramatic legislating, akin to adolescent door-slamming, state lawmakers declared themselves in charge of public health emergencies — skilled as they were in triaging catastrophic medical events. The MAGA crowd also clipped the wings of the executive branch, just in case the governor got any ideas about leading the state in a full-blown crisis.
- Gov. Mike DeWine, never a profile in courage, refused to buck the right-wingers calling the shots with his administration. He could have challenged their unconstitutional seizure of his authority, but snagging a second term took precedence over taking a stand in the public interest. He chose to acquiesce to the MAGA cult for his own career and never looked back.
- Rather than being upstaged by his fellow Republicans, DeWine quickly dropped mask mandates, social distancing and other restrictions ahead of his own criteria for safely doing so.
- Instead of leading on the pandemic, DeWine made excuses. He didn’t mandate proven tools for curbing COVID outbreaks because there was no “appetite” for them. His hands were tied by law. It was the legislature’s fault.
- [DeWine] would recommend public health protections during a raging pandemic but not require compliance (for the greater good) with any of them. Not if he wanted to win reelection.
- As the delta variant surged in August, we waited for DeWine to do something. As the school year started with cases up sharply and half of all districts maskless, we waited for DeWine to protect thousands of Ohio students and staff. As children’s hospitals throughout the state begged schools to mandate masks, we waited for DeWine to intervene after he agreed it was the right thing to do.
- As the omicron variant packs Ohio hospitals to the breaking point with mostly unvaccinated patients, we wait for DeWine to do something besides propping up besieged medical facilities with reinforced manpower.
- During a recent press conference, DeWine spoke like a man running for reelection and not like a leader doing what needs to be done to prevent a train wreck from happening in the next few weeks.
- Unfortunately, DeWine put keeping his job first and let what should have been a stat response to an imminent disaster become a recommendation — lest anyone be offended. “Ohio Strong” rings hollow.
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