The most horrifying statement of the week:
In a radio interview, Governor Mike Parson stressed the importance of getting schools open regardless of the risks:
“These kids have got to get back to school,” Parson told Cox. “They’re at the lowest risk possible. And if they do get COVID-19, which they will — and they will when they go to school — they’re not going to the hospitals. They’re not going to have to sit in doctor’s offices. They’re going to go home and they’re going to get over it….”
Parson’s comment on the coronavirus signaled that the decision to send all children back to school would be justified even in a scenario in which all of them became infected with the coronavirus.
He also opposes a mask mandate.
Governor Parsons simply doesn’t give a damn about the children, their families, or school staff. They can get the deadly disease and he doesn’t care.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Governor Parsons”?
A parson was a religious person in old fashioned westerns. To wit: “a beneficed member of the clergy; a rector or a vicar:”
Please oh please tell me that this isn’t some sort of made-up character in a dystopian work of fiction? This is a nightmare truly come to life.
The G.O.P. has really scraped bottom when it come to leadership…this creep and the idiots in Georgia and Florida etc… etc…..
My God -indeed.
“Most Incompetent State Leadership in America…6 Governors…Missouri’s governor is a total buffoon, worse than DeSantis”. (Daily Kos, July 21)
I pity the parents in Missouri. This statement from their governor would not give me confidence.
This is absolutely nuts!
Children are going to go home and get over it?
These children could be penalized physically for life by this disease. Just get over it…even if they bring it home to their parents, grandparents, friends and anyone who comes near the infected child.
This country is led by insane people.
Yes, he apparently forgot to complete his sentence: Children are going to go home and get over it after they have spread the virus widely to everyone living in their household.
Speaking of insane people:
Gov. Holcomb [R-IN], GOP governors ask Congress to protect businesses, schools from COVID-19 lawsuits
Gov. Holcomb is among 21 Republican governors asking Congress to include “common sense civil liability protections” in any future coronavirus relief legislation.
The facade of normalcy to cover total system failure Trump’s all human decency and compassion.
COVID-19 kills children with intellectual disabilities at higher rates. Here’s why
JUNE 11, 2020 04:32 PM , UPDATED JULY 19, 2020 07:39 PM
Read more here: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/coronavirus/article243470691.html#storylink=cpy
Several papers have shown how devastating the novel coronavirus has been for the elderly, minorities and people with underlying health conditions, but some researchers point out that studies on individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities are lacking.
Now, new research shows people with disabilities such as cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and autism are more likely to become infected by and die from COVID-19, especially at younger ages.
Part of the reason being that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are more likely to have pre-existing health conditions that increase their risks of severe consequences.
The study was published May 24 in the Disability and Health Journal.
“This paucity of data on COVID-19 trends among the IDD population further exposes the reality that there is no adequate surveillance structure in place to monitor COVID-19, or other public health outcomes, among the IDD population,” the study said.
“This is even more disconcerting during this time in which populations with higher prevalence of identified co-morbidities, such as people with IDD, may be at increased risk of developing severe outcomes, including death, from COVID-19.”…
Read more here: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/coronavirus/article243470691.html#storylink=cpy
As I’ve said before, the GOP is a radicalized far right wing/libertarian death cult that needs to be sidelined for a few years (legally and peacefully through elections). Ousting the GOP electorally appears to be the only way we can get back to anything even approaching normalcy, basic human sanity and decency in this country. Governor Parsons is the poster boy for GOP indifference to human suffering and with all the empathy of a rattlesnake. Oh wait, that’s an insult to rattle snakes.
This must be one of the reasons Iceland is offering the world a much needed public service:
https://www.afar.com/magazine/iceland-invites-the-world-to-scream-it-out