Rep. Taylor Greene Compares Kyrie Irving’s Covid-19 Vaccine Refusal With Magic Johnson’s HIV Diagnosis

Normally once you examine two issues, they need to be someway associated. In any other case, you could increase some eyebrows by saying one thing like, “these chips are making me thirsty, but I acquired some botox injected into my face.” That’s why Consultant Marjorie Taylor-Greene’s (R-Georgia) try to match Kyrie Irving’s refusal to get the Covid-19 vaccine with Magic Johnson’s HIV prognosis again within the 1990’s acquired a collective “what the bleep” from the Twittersphere.

Irving, a star level guard for the Brooklyn Nets, has remained unvaccinated regardless of the New York City (NYC) government requiring proof of vaccination to take part in group indoor actions akin to sporting occasions in NYC. This requirement was put in place to stop the unfold of the extreme acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) as a result of these unvaccinated could also be extra prone to catch and unfold the virus. Since Brooklyn is in NYC till additional discover, the Nets group should maintain Irving from enjoying in Nets house video games in an effort to adjust to the NYC regulation.

This apparently prompted Lavern Spicer, a Republican who in 2020 unsuccessfully ran for a Florida seat within the U.S. Home of Consultant, to tweet the next final Tuesday:

Whoa, what does Johnson, the Corridor of Fame level guard who performed for the Los Angeles Lakers within the Eighties and Nineties, need to do with the Irving scenario? Why did Spicer bringing the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) right into a dialog in regards to the Covid-19 coronavirus? And what the heck is full-blown HIV as @bRHOwn_eyedgirl requested beneath:

HIV isn’t a pile leaves. It doesn’t make sense to seek advice from the virus as “full-blown” and even “partially-blown.” However that’s not the one method Spicer appeared to blow it together with her tweet. They, that means the NBA, allowed Johnson to return to basketball after his 1991 HIV prognosis as a result of in contrast to SARS-CoV-2, HIV doesn’t unfold through respiratory droplets or informal contact. Former NBA participant Rex Chapman puzzled whether or not Spicer knew this truth:

Curiously sufficient, Spicer appeared to acknowledge this truth within the following thread the place somebody appeared to high school herself:

And no, basketballs aren’t the kind of balls normally concerned with HIV. For HIV to be handed from one individual to a different, there sometimes must be far more sustained physique fluid contact akin to transfusion with blood that’s contaminated with HIV or unprotected intercourse with somebody who’s contaminated. Neither of those circumstances are inclined to happen throughout a basketball recreation, as the next tweet response emphasised:

Basketball referees additionally normally don’t say, “on account of the private foul, a blood transfusion will happen on the foul line.”

Against this, the SARS-CoV-2 is a respiratory virus. It might probably unfold through respiratory droplets that may come out of an contaminated individual’s nostril and mouth. Subsequently, an contaminated individual can readily infect others on the identical basketball court docket. That’s why social distancing and face masks use have been ion place at completely different instances throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

The subsequent day Spicer adopted up about Irving once more, this time pushing the incorrect narrative that your resolution to get vaccinated towards Covid-19 is not more than a private alternative that solely impacts you:

This, after all, isn’t the case. As a substitute, everybody’s danger of catching the Covid-19 coronavirus depends upon whether or not these round them could also be contaminated with the virus. So sure Irving can maintain you safer from Covid-19 and vice-versa.

It’s not clear whether or not Taylor-Greene noticed the Twitter exchanges with Spicer. Regardless, two days after Spicer’s foray someway tried to match the 2 conditions with the next tweet on Thursday:

This tweet appeared just like the film Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, a foul sequel of a foul unique. The truth is, Taylor Greene’s tweet had further inaccuracies as former NBA coach Stan Van Gundy identified right here:

As you’ll be able to see, Van Gundy made it clear that “the NBA isn’t protecting Irving from enjoying” in Nets house video games. The NBA and the Nets have merely been complying with NYC rules.

It’s actually not honest to convey Johnson into the Irving-Covid-19 vaccine dialogue as Spicer and Taylor-Greene did. Arguably the best level guard in basketball historical past, Johnson has had an extended historical past of providing assists to actual science and drugs. He has been a powerful advocate for extra HIV consciousness, analysis, and prevention. And earlier this 12 months Johnson publicly acquired the Covid-19 vaccine in an effort to encourage his many followers to get vaccinated:

Perpetuating misconceptions about HIV, the Covid-19 coronavirus, and Covid-19 vaccines can do numerous actual hurt. It may be like changing a basketball with a rock throughout a recreation and hurling it at others. The Covid-19 coronavirus and HIV aren’t the identical factor. Evaluating these two very completely different pathogens might be like evaluating, oh, some politicians and individuals who truly perceive and respect science.