FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, September 4, 2020
CONTACT: press@iowademocrats.org
Does Miller-Meeks Agree With Doctors that Ernst’s Dangerous Conspiracy Theories Could Lead to Worst Outbreak?
Iowa Medical Society – which Miller-Meeks used to lead – calls Ernst’s comments “incredibly disappointing”
DES MOINES — In a scathing Des Moines Register report yesterday, UnityPoint Health’s chief clinical officer and the Iowa Medical Society criticized Senator Joni Ernst over her comments pushing dangerous false conspiracy theories about COVID-19 infection rates. Medical experts have expressed concern that “Iowans might take COVID-19 less seriously,” because of Ernst’s slanderous and unfounded claim that medical professionals are overcounting COVID-19 cases and deaths for profit.
Yet as Iowa’s medical community jumps to denounce the “offensive attack” against hardworking frontline workers across the state, Mariannette Miller-Meeks – who used to lead the Iowa Medical Society – has been completely silent.
These latest concerns from the medical experts follow condemnation from frontline health care workers across Iowa and the country who are putting their lives on the line to fight the virus – calling Senator Ernst’s lies “incredibly offensive,” “a slap in the face,” and “insulting.”
On CNN yesterday, Dr. Austin Baeth – a physician at UnityPoint Health Des Moines – warned that Ernst’s controversial comments were, “downplaying the severity of this pandemic, and that gives free room for the deniers to act recklessly. And so those who are downplaying this have blood on their hands.”
“It’s simple: Mariannette Miller-Meeks must stand with frontline workers and condemn Senator Ernst’s dangerous comments. If she refuses, she’ll prove to Iowans once again that there is no low she won’t stoop to in order to toe the party line,” said IDP spokesperson Samantha Kennedy.