Tom Tiffany, cookie monster

I'd noted Tom Tiffany's penchant for using his Congressional perch and perks - like a taxpayer-paid newsletter - to spread bad information.

Or through public remarks that downplayed the Jan. 6th violent attack on the US Capitol - his workplace - as "one isolated event" while also voting against the legal certification of Joe Biden's legal election win. 

US Cong. Tom Tiffany, (R-WI)

Regrettably, he's at it again.

Tiffany appeared before a school board meeting Monday night in Rhinelander where he a) spoke against a proposed mask mandate made reasonable by the ominously dangerous and rapidly-spreading COVID Delta strain: 

C.D.C. Internal Report Calls Delta Variant as Contagious as Chickenpox

The amount of virus in a person infected with Delta is a thousandfold more than what is seen in people infected with the original version of the virus, according to one recent study....Infection with the Delta variant produces virus amounts in the airways that are tenfold higher than what is seen in people infected with the Alpha variant, which is also highly contagious, the document noted.

and, b) compared Centers from Disease Control about COVID prevention to its advice against eating cookie dough to avoid what are occasional cases of food poisoning.

From a Wisconsin radio station report, this:

School District of Rhinelander Board Adopts Optional Mask Policy with Room for Admin Changes

Congressman Tom Tiffany (R-Minocqua) spoke against masks at the meeting, equating the CDC guideline on masks to its one on eating raw cookie dough.

Why would a Member of Congress trivialize risk to constituents and children during pandemic times?

COVID is not the seasonal flu and it is certainly not food poisoning, as seriously nasty as it can be.

For the record, more than 640,000 Wisconsinites have contracted COVID19 - that's more than 10% of the state's 5.85 million residents - and the virus has killed nearly 7.500 Wisconsinites, current state data show, while illness outbreaks caused by what may be in tainted cookie dough are infinitesimally smaller. 

And whether this useless Covid-to-cookie dough conflation came from Tiffany's personal Internet browsing, Republican talking points or incompetent staff work, his bit wasn't even original, as this recent news report from North Carolina seems to suggest.

North Carolina reverses course, urges masks in all schools

Top North Carolina Republicans worry the abrupt shift in recommendations from state and federal health officials will prompt fewer residents to come in for a vaccine because they’ll still need to wear masks indoors.

“All we’re getting from public health authorities are shifting rules and perpetual panic,” Republican Senate leader Phil Berger’s office said in a news release. “The CDC offers more consistent guidance on consuming raw cookie dough than on masks. That’s a problem and here’s why: If the CDC erodes its credibility on masks, then it risks eroding its credibility on the far more important message of vaccines.”

Honestly, I don't see much difference between Tiffany's advice on masks and vaccines, (even to his own family) and some nameless parent at a school board in Anywhere, USA endorsing driving the carpool to school without buckling the kids in their seat belts.