Maybe the jurisdiction where you live is not handling the COVID-19 pandemic all that well, but spare a thought for the poor people of the American mid-western state of Missouri.
Earlier this week, Missouri's Attorney General Eric Schmidt issued cease-and-desist letters to the state's public health departments and school districts, which will force them to abandon any COVID tracking and prevention work, including mask mandates, quarantine orders, case investigations, contact tracing and announcements of cases and deaths. This comes as the state, like so many other regions, is seeing a worrying spike in COVID cases (124% increase over the last two weeks) and hospitalizations (50% increase).
And the reasoning behind this? Well, there isn't much. Apparently, some Missouri citizens have conplained that health authorities were overstepping their constitutional remits by trying to help people and save lives, and the state's Republican politicians have of course jumped on this because, you know, freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness without anyone telling you what to do, the usual stuff. God bless America because it needs all the help it can get.
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