Oral arguments were heard Friday by the Supreme Court on whether or not to block the Biden Administration’s vaccination mandate for private employers from taking effect. The right-leaning justices were skeptical that OSHA had the power to create such a regulation, whereas three liberal justices believed the mandate was needed due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Sonia Sotomayor Associate Justice was insistent that the surging wave of omicron variants is a crisis. She significantly exaggerated COVID-19’s danger to children while discussing this issue.
Omicron can cause serious illness in people who are not vaccinated. It is just as dangerous as delta. she said. “The numbers—look at the hospitalization rates going up. Today, we have more people infected than we had a year ago. There are hospitals almost full at capacity, with many people on ventilators. More than 100,000 children are in critical condition and some of them on ventilators, something we have never seen before.
If you grave condition, Sotomayor meant HospitalizedIf she is, then her claim to be false. COVID-19 is currently in the hospital for only 100,000 children. If you added up the number of children who have been admitted for COVID-19 in the hospital since August 2020 you’d still find less than 100,000. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that hospitals admitted around 82,000 COVID-19 children under 18 during this time. Current statistics for this age group show 766 hospitalizations per seven days.
Most children with COVID-19 are only affected by mild symptoms. This disease is more prevalent in children than it is in older adults. These are vaccinated. Most kids admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 have underlying health conditions—particularly obesity.
Sotomayor is probably the COVID-cautiousest judge. Sotomayor is the only judge who doesn’t wear a mask in the courtroom. She opted instead to take part in oral arguments from her bedroom.
This is her right. She should, however, be more precise in reciting the statistics if she’s trying to justify President Joe Biden’s expansive and unrestricted vaccine mandate on grounds that the disease was uniquely dangerous for children.