THE GOP'S PRO-COVID-19 AGENDA.

• Date: 01 December 2021

Republican lawmakers in at least twenty-six states, driven by manufactured outrage over mask mandates, vaccination requirements, and shutdowns, have passed laws to weaken the authority, possibly permanently, of state and local officials to protect public health, according to a recent report from Kaiser Health News.

At least sixteen states have limited public health officials' power to order mask mandates, quarantines, or isolation, the report says. And at least seventeen states have banned COVID-19 vaccine mandates or passports, or "made it easier to get around vaccine requirements." (These tallies do not include pro-COVID-19 bans on public health measures...