Idaho Gov. Brad Little says President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate is wrong on every level.
He calls it an “unprecedented government overreach into the private sector. …”
Idaho House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, couldn’t agree more.
“I believe these mandates are unconstitutional and constitute federal overreach, … ” Bedke says.
But they refused to join their party’s renegade squad — Reps. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, Priscilla Giddings, R-White Bird, Mike Kingsley, R-Lewiston, and a dozen others — who gathered in Boise on Wednesday to clamor for a state law to nullify Biden’s plan.
The governor and House speaker have no intention of granting their demands for a special legislative session to accomplish just that.
Everything else Little and Bedke have tried has failed.
No matter how much they beg or cajole, Idahoans simply aren’t voluntarily getting vaccinated in sufficient numbers. In fact, it’s trending the wrong way. Fewer Idahoans got shots the week of Sept. 5 than each of the preceding two weeks.
Idaho’s vaccination rate is 40.28 percent — ranking it 49th out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Only West Virginia and Wyoming are worse.
Cases are surging in Idaho. On Monday, the state’s seven-day average came in at 61.3 cases per 100,000 population, the highest since Dec. 20. The rate is up 51 percent this month and more than 16 times greater than it was on July 1.
The situation is even more dire in north central Idaho, which also marked an all-time record of eight COVID-19 deaths in one day Tuesday.
Idaho’s hospitals either are overwhelmed or about to be. As of Monday, 613 Idahoans were hospitalized with COVID-19. The previous winter peak was 466.
As of Tuesday, 89 percent of Idaho’s ICU beds were full, with 57 percent of those beds occupied by COVID-19 patients.
One of every five people hospitalized in Idaho has COVID-19.
Hospitals in northern and north central Idaho now have permission to operate under crisis standards of care, which means limited resources can be rationed on the basis of who has the best chance of survival in the long term. Idaho Health and Welfare Director Dave Jeppesen says rationing standards are imminent in the Treasure Valley and Magic Valley.
“More and more” hospitals report they lack “enough staff to open up more ICU beds,” state epidemiologist Christine Hahn said.
Challenging Biden in court — as Little and Bedke prefer — is an exercise in futility. As former Idaho Supreme Court Chief Justice Jim Jones wrote this week, the administration’s authority to protect workers even in the private sector from COVID-19 under the Occupational Health and Safety Act is established law.
“OSHA is designed to protect workers from serious health and safety threats at work and is tailor-made for the COVID-19 virus,” Jones wrote.
Even if Little and Bedke are right and Jones is wrong, courts move slowly. Winning a ruling against Biden may arrive long after the president’s mandate has had its desired effect, bringing the latest delta variant under control.
“The governors can now score political points for railing against the mandate, while their voters are blessed by the lives saved as a result of the president’s action,” Jones wrote.
Not that any of this is new to Little. He’s not above playing to both sides.
In 2019, he signed a measure he obviously detested —the GOP-led Legislature’s bill limiting Medicaid benefits — because he expected the federal courts to dispense with it.
The same thing happened this year. When the Legislature attempted to eviscerate the initiative process, Little signed it — and waited for the Idaho Supreme Court to oblige him by ruling the new law unconstitutional.
So why wouldn’t Little let the president take the heat? By doing what is difficult, Biden is giving the governor political cover — no matter how much Little publicly complains about it. — M.T.
