Washington Governor Jay Inslee has taken to the airwaves to publicly scold Idaho and its officers for handling the healthcare crisis. In an unprecedented move by a governor, Insley took off the gloves blaming Idaho for his hospital challenges in Washinton. Inslee's appearance on MSNBC has drawn national attention along with a reply from Idaho's Governor Brad Little.  

Inslee told the entire nation why he believed his state was in its current state of crisis, as reported by the Seattle Times. 

“Today in my state, Washington citizens in many cases cannot get heart surgery, cannot get cancer surgery that they need, because we are having to take too many people of unvaccinated nature and unmasked, many of whom come from Idaho, and that’s just maddening frankly,” Inslee said.

“So we are calling for Idaho and the leaders there to lead and take some commonsense measures. I’m disappointed the governor of Idaho has spent more time trying to reduce protection by reducing vaccine usage instead of concentrating on this, and then clogging up my hospitals.”

“It’s not just Idaho; I don’t want to pick on Idaho,” Inslee added. “Unfortunately, that entire party, the other party, is not helping out, pulling on the rope here. Many states are in the same position and many governors will experience the same frustration I have. So it’s time for people to start pulling on the rope and do an American duty. Get vaccinated, have useful use of masks where appropriate. If we do these things, we know we can best this pandemic.”

Governor Little responded to Insley's insults here.  


The governor's comments were not welcomed by the former Saint Luke's press person.


New York TimesABC News, MSNBC

The negative media attention has not caused local or state officials to limit attendance to local events such as Boise State home football games or the Treefort Music Festival.

 

This is not the first time that Governor Inslee has blamed Idaho for his state's Covid issues.  Ten months ago Inslee addressed the state telling folks that his model of healthcare was superior to Idaho.  He blamed Idaho's lack of a mask mandate for the spike in hospitalizations in his state.   "We hope Idaho overtime will be more aggressive and responsible frankly to reduce the burden on the Spokane Medical System."  You can see his entire comments here.

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