While complaining about long lines for COVID testing and discussing Joe Biden's upcoming announcement on federal vaccinations, free rapid tests and military support for hospitals, Fox's Brian Kilmeade once again downplayed the potential danger to public health from the omicron variant before lying about whether or not people can be compelled to be vaccinated.
Remember, this dangerous diatribe is just one day after the internal memo at Fox was released announcing their new policy which ends the testing option and mandates vaccines for anyone working in the building in New York.
KILMEADE: So far everyone is panicked over a variant that nobody ever says “We are looking out. We are being cautious.” But, even though the 70 percent of the cases of the new people testing positive are omicron. We have had one death with somebody 50 years old in Texas with underlying conditions. Overall for this nation of 330 million, deaths are up 3 percent even though cases are up 20 percent.
It's easy to get. It spreads quicker but there is no indication that it's even resulting in hospitalizations. So it's good to be warned but I believe we are looking at a nation overreacting and we are going to see a President who is going to do the things that you guys just mentioned, those three major things, but he is also going to blister the unvaccinated again.
Not the way to do it. I love what the Vice President said, the Vice President says it's not the blame game. It's not the time. The leadership way he said I'm not going to mandate vaccinations. We don't do that. I'm not going to mandate masks, that's not the way it works for the American people.
Obviously he changed all that this summer. Obviously his poll numbers have shown that they are actually paying the price for that, and it's further polarizing this country. Stop blaming people.
You've put it out there. You cannot tell people what to do. You can't tell them not to overeat. You can't tell them not to smoke. Can you tell them not to do both things. We'll see what happens.
But vilifying people that are not vaccinated, uh, don't waste your time today, because yelling at them has not worked so far.
His cohost Steve Doocy immediately acknowledged that Fox has a vaccine mandate in place, but the irony didn't seem to penetrate Kilmeade's thick skull.
DOOCY: Well, there are going to be a lot of restrictions. I mean this company, Fox, coming up the beginning of next week, to be in this building you've got to have had the shot.
SHIMKUS: Following the New York City mandate.
KILMEADE: Because we are in the city.
DOOCY: What the mayor said, but it's the company policy.
Which was followed by Kilmeade bitching about the possibility that even booster shots might also end up being mandated. While there have been far fewer hospitalizations in South Africa from omicron than delta, the UK has seen a 30 percent spike in hospitalizations in the last week, so Kilmeade doesn't yet know whether we're going to see a surge in hospitalizations in the United States.
What we do know is people like Kilmeade who downplay the danger and make vaccine hesitancy worse will assure we have more sick and dead people than we would have if they were listening to health experts instead of lying dangerous propagandists on Fox.
