I am shocked, shocked that Gov. Gary “Available Jones” Herbert would have us believe that he was asleep at the switch when his buddies in the Utah Legislature got the state to pony up $800,000 for malaria medication — and that he had somehow forgotten about the group of local doctors who had written to him stating what a fundamentally stupid use of public money this was — in hopes that said meds would be useful in warding off the coronavirus plague.
I am even more surprised that the folks who really run our state, the Republican consultant industry, were not all over this like, well, stink on road apples. Don't these people even stay current on the latest grift?
By the time malaria meds fiasco had surfaced, Fox News and the White House cult had already moved on to to an even juicier public health story, the Donald’s April 23 whopper that we should be drinking bleach and spritzing methanol and UV light to “cleanse” the virus.
Why is our state so chronically behind the curve?
My only hope is that the governor, the Rs in the Legislature and other like-minded Utahns will actually follow the president's new prescription. After all, what have we got to lose?
Stephen C. Pace, Salt Lake City
