A conservative radio host who downplayed vaccines on his show is on an oxygen machine after a severe COVID-19 infection
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Registered nurse Erin Beauchemin monitors an Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) machine connected to a patient in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, on May 8, 2020. Elaine Thompson/AP
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- Phil Valentine, a conservative talk-show host, is battling COVID-19 on an oxygen tank in the hospital.
- The hospitalization comes after his remarks downplaying both the coronavirus and the vaccines.
- Valentine, for example, has previously said the only people who need a vaccine are those with "underlying health issues."
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A conservative talk-show host who downplayed the coronavirus has contracted a severe COVID-19 infection that now requires that he be on an oxygen tank. Phil Valentine, host of "The Phil Valentine Show," which airs from Nashville, Tennessee, was diagnosed with the disease earlier this month. He has since been hospitalized and is on an oxygen machine.
"He needs to be on an EKMO (sic) machine which is lung part of a heart/lung machine," he said, referring to an "extracorporeal membrane oxygenation" (ECMO) machine, which acts as an artificial lung and heart for the body.
On his radio show, Phil suggested the coronavirus is not as serious as health officials have made it out to be.
"I'm not an anti-vaxxer. I'm just using common sense," he said in a December blog post . "What are my odds of getting COVID? They're pretty low. What are my odds of dying from COVID if I do get it? Probably way less than one percent."
Phil has also said he believes that the only people who needed to get vaccinated against the coronavirus are those with "underlying health issues."
But a COVID-19 vaccination can help curb the spread of the virus and offer protection to others as well.
Since his hospitalization, Phil, 61, has reversed course on his stance, according to Mark.
Now that he's contracted the disease, he "regrets" his comments about the vaccines, his family said.
"Phil would like for his listeners to know that while he has never been an 'anti-vaxer' he regrets not being more vehemently 'Pro-Vaccine', and looks forward to being able to more vigorously advocate that position as soon as he is back on the air, which we all hope will be soon," Mark said in an earlier Facebook post .
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Phil Valentine, a conservative talk-show host, is battling COVID-19 on an oxygen tank in the hospital.
The hospitalization comes after his remarks downplaying both the coronavirus and the vaccines.
On his radio show, Phil suggested the coronavirus is not as serious as health officials have made it out to be
"He needs to be on an EKMO (sic) machine which is lung part of a heart/lung machine," he said, referring to an "extracorporeal membrane oxygenation" (ECMO) machine, which acts as an artificial lung and heart for the body.
Karma
"I'm not an anti-vaxxer. I'm just using common sense," he said in a December blog post . "What are my odds of getting COVID? They're pretty low. What are my odds of dying from COVID if I do get it? Probably way less than one percent."
Phil has also said he believes that the only people who needed to get vaccinated against the coronavirus are those with "underlying health issues."
"What are my odds...?" I'd say 100%.
funny how that happens
Sometimes even some of the previously craziest MAGA-idiots change their views...when reality smacks them in the face . . .
They either change their views, or double down on the stupidity.
Phil would like for his listeners to know that while he has never been an 'anti-vaxer' he regrets not being more vehemently 'Pro-Vaccine', and looks forward to being able to more vigorously advocate that position as soon as he is back on the air, which we all hope will be soon.
So he changed his tune about Covid. Death has a way of doing that to dumb asses.
Many people are saying that "There's no cure for being stuck on stupid."
But maybe this time there is a cure for that sort of stupidity-- its called death !
Karma strikes again.
Both Karma and Poetic Justice. The onlly real advantage of there being antivaxxers and antimaskers is that it will reduce the most ignorant portion of the American populaition. What is unfortunate, is the more intelligents ones they infect - IMO a case of murder, unless being a moron is a defence.
Unfortunate indeed.
He railed against having stuff shoved down his throat … until it was a breathing tube. You’d think that all these similar events would be teachable moments to the ignorant masses, but they just keep moving in the same stubborn direction. Darwin at work I guess.
I'm not vaccinated. If I get it, and wind up in the hospital, I can't say that I won't have a "well fuck me" moment. Who knows.
My issue is with the claimed efficacy of the vaccine and the reporting. My state claimed that roughly 38% of the state population was vaccinated by the end of July. Reported cases for July totaled 27,246, with a claim that 5.74%, or 1,565, were breakthrough cases, the other 94.26% were non-vaccinated. Looking at those numbers alone might make you think that the unvaccinated stand a much greater risk of getting the virus.
Then you dig around and find the hospitalizations. According to the report put out by our Dept. of Health, out of the 605 july hospitalizations, among those 18 and older, 452 were not vaccinated, 153 were. So, roughly 74.7% of those hospitalized are not vaccinated, 25.3% are. Hmmm. So, 5.74% of the reported cases account for 25.3% of the hospitalizations? Or, stated otherwise, 9.78% of the 1,565 breakthrough cases reported resulted in hospitalizations; whereas, only 1.76% of the 25,681 unvaccinated cases resulted in hospitalization.
Those numbers don't jive with the narrative that the vaccine is 90% effective in preventing serious illness. But, we know they are intentionally under reporting the breakthrough cases, on the allegation that it is not worth tracking. Why not? Easier to create a sense of urgency if you are able to say that 95% of the cases are unvaccinated. That's clearly not the case. If you assume that the vaccinated stand an equivalent chance of winding up in the hospital, there were probably around 8,700 breakthrough cases. We are told not to assume that though, because the vaccine is also supposedly effective in preventing you from getting the virus in the first place. So, the potential here is that they are grossly under reporting breakthrough cases, and that the true number could be upward of 25K. If you don't assume that, then you live by the numbers the state is sharing and the fact that the vaccinated apparently run a greater risk of winding up in the hospital if they get the virus.
One word:
#Over-thinking
Ha. Well, should I swallow the narrative without any thought? I have a hard time doing that.
The latest weekly report, which provides updated numbers through August 9. shows as follows: 14079 new cases. 18% vaccinated, 82% unvaccinated. 9.4% (238) of vaccinated cases required hospitalization.
If there was a 50/50 split between the vaccinated and not, I'd certainly be more inclined to have a little more faith in the narrative. However, this latest report shows that 1,379,025, or roughly 34.5% of the state is fully vaccinated. (amazing to me that they'd report this, since the previous reports indicate that closer to 40% had been fully vaccinated.) Weekly cases in vaccinated people continue to rise in percentage of total cases reported. Eventually, I think they'll quit trying to blow smoke up everyone's ass, and just report the numbers as they are.
Your numbers make no sense so they probably aren't true. Good luck being unvaccinated Tranny. You're gonna need it.
Tragic indeed, the right wing media machine and voters literally "dying to own the libs". If they all really believed that China was the root cause of this, wouldn't they all be taking the vaccine to keep Americans healthy and strong?
If it is the "china virus", wouldn't every right wing voter want the vaccine to stop the spread?
They think they are "smart" by following the lead of the likes of Rand Paul.
Rand Paul and other prominent Republicans invested heavily in the companies that offer gene therapies available to rich folks like Trump who touted their use in his own recovery.
They invested in Moderna and other companies who make treatments and initially invested in the malaria drug that has been proven to be of little use in treating Covid. It is in Republican investors best interest to play the division card in keeping people sick so they profit from the treatments owning stock in those companies. Yet still their base cannot catch on..
It’s almost as if Rand Paul wants as much infection as possible throughout the population, since it’s more lucrative for him to treat lots of infection than to prevent infection altogether.
Yep.