Gianforte urges vaccinations as delta-driven surge continues

In a press conference Tuesday, Gov. Greg Gianforte urged people to get vaccinated, talked about the ongoing surge of COVID-19 in the U.S. and Montana, one driven by the now-dominant delta variant, continuing with his mantra of personal responsibility.

The state tracking map update today listed 604 new cases with 4,109 active cases and 241 hospitalizations.

Gianforte said unvaccinated people are in danger now that the variant, which is far more contagious than previous versions of the virus, is now spreading through Montana.

Montana's Medical Officer Dr. Maggie Cook-Shimanek said the delta variant is at least twice as easy to spread as the now-supplanted alpha variant and some data suggests that it is more dangerous to the unvaccinated, particularly younger people.

While the vaccinated are less likely to contract it and suffer less severe symptoms, she said, they are still capable of transmitting it to others.

Gianforte said he's encouraged by the recent uptick in demand for the vaccine, with 50 percent of the state's eligible population fully immunized with another six percent having received at least one dose of the vaccine.

He said now is the time for everyone to seriously consider following suit especially with the Federal Food and Drug Administration's recent full approval of the Pfizer vaccine, which until this week was approved in an emergency-use authorization only.

"The delta variant is serious," he said. "There couldn't be a more important time to get vaccinated. The vaccines have been researched, they've been tested, they're safe, and they work."

He urged people to talk to their personal medical professional, saying they are now the only ones capable of convincing people, not public figures, himself included, interest groups, and the press, many of whom he derided as "sanctimonious" and accused of "virtue-signaling."

He said despite his insistence that people get vaccinated the state will never mandate vaccination, mask-wearing or shutdowns again, and he criticized democrats for politicizing the pandemic, presenting an out-of-context quote of Vice-President Kamala Harris saying, "If Donald Trump tells us that we should take it, I'm not taking it," in October of last year.

When Harris said this during a vice-presidential debate in October she was responding to a question about the trustworthiness of the Trump Administration when it came to approval of a vaccine.

She said she would need more than the administration's word on the vaccine, and that she would take it if medical professionals approved it.

"If the public health professionals, if Dr. Fauci, if the doctors tell us that we should take it, I'll be the first in line to take it. Absolutely. But if Donald Trump tells us that we should take it, I'm not taking it," she said at the time.

Gianforte also discouraged local school boards from requiring masks, citing feedback he's received from parents.

He said people have come to him saying masks affect their children's mental health and mandating them is counter-productive.

He said school boards should listen to parents instead of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"It's very hard to follow (the CDC's) logic," he said.

Gianforte thanked health and public health workers for their efforts during this ongoing pandemic.

"You've been tireless leaders in working to make our community and state safer and healthier," he said.

Gianforte talked about Montana's response to COVID-19 and the economic fallout of the pandemic and also criticized the Biden administration and democrats on a number of issues foreign and domestic.

Gianforte said as he's been traveling across the state on his 56 County Tour, the subjects people keep asking him about is the drought, wildfires, economic security, jobs and the pandemic.

He said he wouldn't address the first two subjects until later - he has another press conference scheduled for this afternoon - but said Montana is doing well on the jobs front.

He said the state has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the U.S. with unemployment claims down by 87 percent since the beginning of the year.

He touted the fact that Montana was the first state to end federally supplemented unemployment benefits and implemented a return-to-work bonus program which he said has resulted in the state's total employment numbers being within one percent of pre-pandemic levels.

However, he said, Montana is still being held back by inflation which is outpacing the increased wages now being offered by employers.

Gianforte blamed this inflation on the budget being pushed by democrats in Washington, calling out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and President Joe Biden in particular for hurting the country including Montana families.

Gianforte also spent a substantial amount of the press conference criticizing the Biden Administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan, which he said was marred by inconsistency and incompetence.

"Regardless of your opinion on the war in Afghanistan and whether you think the United States should continue our presence their, or whether you think we should have been there in the first place, I don't think anyone thinks the Biden administration's approach is working," he said.

He said the way the withdrawal was handled was an insult to international allies and the Afghans who supported the U.S. which has already resulted in the deaths of many of them, as well as veterans who served there.

"(To veterans), your service mattered, you made a difference," he said. "You made the United States and the world a safer place... I pray your efforts were not in vain."

He encouraged Montanans to join him in that prayer.