On Saturday, the Salt Lake City Tribune editorial board published an editorial calling on the Utah governor for the use of the National Guard to stop unvaccinated citizens from going anywhere. The Editorial Board wrote that Utah leaders have given up on the COVID pandemic. It also blamed elected officials for not mandating the vaccine for all citizens. According to the paper, if Utah were a “civilized” state, Republican Gov. Spencer Cox would establish a COVID-19 mandate for Utah and have the National Guard enforce it by refusing to let unvaccinated persons go “anywhere.”
The editorial board stated that “If Utah were a civilized state, the governor would next act to order the mass vaccination campaign we should’ve launched a year ago. Going so far as to deploy National Guard to ensure people without proof of vaccination wouldn’t be allowed anywhere.”
“Government officials, mostly Republicans, seemed determined not to be caught governing under this challenge. It wrote that any recommendation or move to make vaccination compulsory for admission to public places or society was deemed unjustified. “Cox and many others have not shown the courage to stand by their convictions. Cox, the state legislators, our congressional delegation, and Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes proudly opposed the vaccine mandates civilized society has used for decades to eradicate everything, from polio to measles to diphtheria.
In comparison, the paper’s criticism of President Biden was mild. While they lauded Biden for his efforts to establish a national vaccine mandate, they criticized President Biden for taking too long in making COVID-19 and N95 masks widely accessible.
“President Joe Biden attempted to pull a few useful levers by ordering vaccine mandates for health care workers, and vaccine-or test rules for workplaces with more than 100 employees. The editorial board stated that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the first while rejecting the second. “Foolishly holding that a communicable illness is not a workplace danger” was the conclusion. Biden is not innocent of all this. Biden has been moved by the apparent reluctance of many people to receive or require, vaccinations to push for the best possible tests and masks to all. Although it’s right to do so, it can be months late.
Critics reacted strongly to the newspaper’s suggestion that the National Guard could be used to forcibly unvaccinated people to remain at home.
“This is mindless, antiscience insanity — the omicron infects everyone — but these “journalists,” are calling for totalitarianism. Clay Travis, the founder of OutKick, tweeted that they believe they are the good guys.
Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson (R.) tweeted: “The truth is Omicron has out of control everywhere. Even in areas with mandatory vaccines and masks. Even though we always promote vaccines, even those who have been vaccinated are still catching it. Although it’s easy to see the good in people on the low end, this is the kind of nonsense that renders editorial boards obsolete.
“Use national guard to stop unvaccinated people from traveling anywhere!” This would be the most draconian state in the country. How do they feel about Australia? Matt Whitlock, a former staffer of Orinn Hatch in Utah, tweeted that the Trib editorial board was “absolutely garbage”.
