Wait a second. If armadillos spread leprosy then we need to close down the border. Hell, we need to let Mexico annex Texas and then close down the border. Who cares about unattended children? It’s the armadillos that are the real threat. And Ted Cruz.
This is the level of logic and basic human compassion we have to deal with on a daily basis, whether we’re talking about kids at the border or unemployment insurance. On the left, letting Mexico have Texas back is a fringe position that is not espoused by any members of Congress and few, if any, elected Democrats nationwide. But Republicans who want to pass laws to prevent the housing of unaccompanied migrant children because they fear disease? Finding them is like shooting fish in a barrel.
And, yet:
There have been a handful of reports that children have swine flu, tuberculosis, measles, and chickenpox. But while Central American kids are at higher risk for tuberculosis, mainly an upper respiratory disease, it is not only treatable and curable, but the Department of Health and Human Services screens and quarantines the children who test positive for TB. In fact, the first step once kids are intercepted by border agents is to perform health screenings on each individual.
The general population is likely safe from swine flu because the vaccine for it is part of the trivalent influenza vaccine that’s administrated annually. Measles and chickenpox vaccines are available and already required, although the recent uptick in measles outbreaks can be partially blamed on parents who forgo their kids’ MMR (measles, mump, rubella) vaccine based on the belief that vaccines cause autism. Reports of Ebola virus (a West African disease), as Gringrey suggested, seem to be downright doubtful since people with the virus develop dramatic symptoms within days, and are probably too busy hemorrhaging blood to make the treacherous journey into the United States. And Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease is a benign infection that can be picked up anywhere like the playground and in daycare centers, not just by three-year-olds granddaughters who somehow have direct access to unaccompanied children.
According to the World Bank, many of these unaccompanied children have already been vaccinated. The vaccination rate in the United States hovers at 92 percent, but comparatively, 99 percent of Mexican children are vaccinated as are 93 percent of kids coming from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.
But none of this matters because the right-wing has completely taken over the Republican Party and paranoid hateful insanity is now just what’s for dinner.
They’re worried about disease when their brains have already been infected.
