This Week In Sanity: August 7, 2021

A reminder that the unvaccinated are contributing to the stressing of our fragile healthcare system. I know it can be difficult to make a healthy decision when the Bronson administration keeps enlisting anesthesiologists and pediatricians to do the work of epidemiologists and when Facebook permits COVID-19 misinformation to be spread by super-secret unfindable groups—but the truth is out there.

Look at all this vaccine just waiting to be jabbed into your arm! Talk to your doctor (hopefully a real one) about getting the jab. As a high-risk person myself, I too was concerned about side-effects but sailed through the process masterfully other than being fatigued for a few days. Remember—

Freedom of Choice to Resign

Mayor Bronson's appointed Health Director David Morgan resigned on Friday, invoking Donald Trump on his way out by claiming he was the victim of an "organized political witchhunt" and that well-known political activists spread misinformation, lies, and "slanderous information" in an attempt to discredit his name.

The Blue Alaskan confirmed some of the allegations made by Christopher Blake about Morgan's time as an accountant at Choices Inc. The non-profit's current CEO told me Dave Morgan left Choices Inc. in “complete financial disarray” and that the non-profit struggled financially for roughly two years after Morgan left.

Former colleagues of Morgan (some from Choices Inc.) also emailed the Muni with their concerns about Bronson's appointee. Midnight Sun Editor Matt Buxton noted that Morgan still has accolades from 1998 on his resume but still refuses even to acknowledge he worked at Choices Inc.

As to Morgan's assertion that he was the target of a political witchhunt, tell that to Forrest Dunbar, Austin Quinn-Davidson, Ethan Berkowitz, Meg Zaletel, Felix Rivera, and Christopher Constant.

Pediatricians Make the Best Epidemiologists

After viewing a clip from this week's Health Policy Meeting, which has now been seen over 2,400 times on Twitter alone, Alaskans quickly realized that pediatrician Dr. Savitt might not have been the best quick pick to replace epidemiologist Janet Johnston who resigned her position with the Anchorage Health Department.

Also worth noting is that Bruce Chandler, the Anchorage Health Department’s longtime medical officer specializing in infectious disease control and prevention, turned in a letter of resignation on Sunday, according to KTOO. News of Chandler's "resignation" came as somewhat of a surprise after David Morgan had revealed Chandler "retired."

Assembly Woman Austin Quinn-Davidson asked Dr. Savitt what the reproductive number of the COVID-19 virus was. Anchorage's Chief Medical Officer—alleged to have “extensive experience with infectious diseases,” responded to Quinn-Davidson, asking her what she meant by “reproductive number.”

WOW! It's almost like a pediatrician is the Chief Medical Officer of the Anchorage Health Department. Oh. Wait.

If you haven't seen the exchange, you can watch it below. Then, let me know how many times your eyes rolled into the back of your head.

Dr. Savitt also appears to enjoy Must Read Alaska. You can read comments purportedly made by the good doctor here.

Also, raise your hand if you're tired of anesthesiologists, chiropractors, and pediatricians putting their stethoscopes where they don't belong. Do chiropractors even get stethoscopes? I have no idea, but you get the gist.

Is Mask Choice Like Abortion Choice?

Tens of Conservatives, many aligned with an affiliated network of social media groups, took to the streets to protest mandated vaccines and masks this week. One group protested before the Anchorage School Board meeting, which was discussing recommended COVID-19 mitigation strategies. Alaska Parents' Right in Education organized the school board protest—they're another astroturfed group of "concerned parents" whose members often refer to the vaccine as the "poison jab" and babble on about the "spike protein."

On Friday, a separate event comprised mostly of white people protested in front of the Alaska Native Medical Center campus. The Alaska Landmine shared this photograph which captured everyone's favorite screamer Bernadette Wilson! All this "choice" over mask-wearing has me wondering when anti-maskers will hold a pro-choice rally in support of a woman's right to choose.

KTOO says that Becky Crawford organized the protest, which isn't surprising since she's been a member of Save Anchorage since July 13, 2020, and shared a flyer for the event with the group.

Save Anchorage often boasts its 8,000+ strong “grassroots” membership roster. Still, for unknown reasons, those membership numbers have never materialized into even a thousand individuals protesting in person for any specific cause.

How dare South Central Foundation and Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium seek to keep their healthcare workers and patients safe during a pandemic? Crawford might not know that American Indians and Alaska Natives are dying of COVID-19 at much higher rates and younger ages than other groups, according to a report published earlier this year.

Reportedly, roughly 150 people out of Anchorage's population of 287,095 showed up for the event, which seems pretty pathetic.

An Anchorage Native Medical Center emergency room nurse didn't take kindly to the group of right-wingers protesting in front of her workplace, writing that an anti-vax crowd had her in tears and that 5 of her Emergency Room colleagues quit in one month.

They're simply not going to be happy until we have mobile morgues lined up outside our hospitals. Where's the love for our healthcare workers?

Speaking of anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers, don't get into a car accident or have a stroke or heart attack. It doesn't look like there's much room at the ICU Inn! Note that Nate Crawford has called dibs on Anchorage's last ICU bed.

Assemblywoman Attempts to Block President Biden?

Assembly Gollum Jamie Allard found herself in the crosshairs of Republican-owned Anchorage Daily News after she said requiring children to wear masks in public schools is criminal child abuse.

Having to read or listen to anything Allard-related should be considered abuse.

In one of Alaska's affiliated network of social media groups, Allard, responding to someone with a big case of the sadz over President Biden's desire to keep the federal government functioning, wrote that she was working on some legislation. But, of course, since this is Jamie Allard we're talking about, it's hard to know what's real and what's not.

Allard is especially a big fan of the Save Anchorage group, whose members went full-on anti-everything this week—railing against Governor Dunleavy who urged Alaskans to get vaccinated. Some group members also whined about Providence's decision to require its employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or follow an additional set of protocols.

Here are some of the comments made this week by Save Anchorage members in their super-secret group about Governor Dunleavy and Providence. No wonder Allard loves them! It's a good thing Save Anchorage hasn't at all contributed to the spread of COVID-19 related misinformation in Alaska!