In more news of stupidity and ignorance…
A republican (shocker) from Georgia by the lovely name of Betty Price suggests quarantining people living with HIV during a House study committee meeting addressing the barriers HIV-positive people face.
She's also the wife of Dr. Tom Price, the former Secretary of Health & Human Services. Oh and Betty is also a medical doctor. It's good to see that intelligence runs in this family.
Her suggestion came during a two-hour meeting of the House Study Committee on Georgians' Barriers to Access to Adequate Health Care. She asked HIV Epidemiology Section Chief Pascale Wortley if quarantining people was an option given how much the state spends on care for people with HIV.
Here's what she asked:
“My thinking sometimes goes in strange directions, but before you proceed if you wouldn’t mind commenting on the surveillance of partners, tracking of contacts, that sort of thing. What are we legally able to do," Price said.
"And I don’t want to say the quarantine word, but I guess I just said it. Is there an ability, since I would guess that public dollars are expended heavily in prophylaxis and treatment of this condition. So we have a public interest in curtailing the spread. What would you advise or are there any methods legally that we could do that would curtail the spread,” Price added.
Pascale said state healthcare officials work with people newly diagnosed with HIV to identify sex partners so they can be notified, as well as link people with HIV to care. She did not directly address Price's suggestion of quarantining people with HIV.
Here's something else she said:
“It seems to me it’s almost frightening the number of people who are living that are potentially carriers, well they are carriers, with the potential to spread, whereas in the past they died more readily and then at that point they are not posing a risk. So we’ve got a huge population posing a risk if they are not in treatment,” Betty said later during Pascale's presentation.
Keep reading here for more colorful statements from someone who actually holds political power. Unreal.