Marshalltown Mayor Joel Greer took to Facebook on Wednesday with a question for those refusing to get vaccinated. Greer, who is an attorney and husband of appeals court judge Sharon Soorholtz Greer (an appointee of Gov. Kim Reynolds), questioned if the unvaccinated cannot trust science and doctors, do they deserve care?
“Those would could but refuse to be vaccinated are putting themselves, us, hospitals, school children and medical staff at risk,” he wrote. “If the unvaccinated don’t trust science and doctors, do they deserve medical care when they get COVID, especially when others needing emergency care are refused because ERs are full and ventilators are unavailable?”
Greer said in the comments that COVID patients will GET medical care, but the question posed is whether they DESERVE it.
We reached out to Greer for further explanation and he said the post was hyperbole.
“I posted this to encourage people to get vaccinated,” he said. “One way I thought I might be able to convince those that are teetering on whether to get vaccinated or not is to pose that question. I certainly think everybody should get treated whether they have COVID or not, just like I think motorcyclists that don’t wear helmets that have head injuries should and will get treated, but I would encourage anybody who gets on a motorcycle in Iowa to wear a helmet. And, and, so, the post is, I would call it a hyperbole or a suggestion, not that I think people shouldn’t get treated if they have COVID and they could have been vaccinated.”
He said he went through the same mental exercise when he put a mask mandate in effect.
“As an attorney, I’m well aware that mayors probably don’t have the local control power to do that and I am aware of the Attorney General’s opinion and the Governor’s opinion about that, but I also did it because I knew that there would be some people who would probably wear masks that otherwise would not. And I’m pretty sure that happened. And I know from hearing from employers and businesses in the Marshalltown area, that they appreciated the fact that I did do that because they thought it did help them encourage mask-wearing in their stores or schools or businesses or wherever they wanted people to wear masks. So that was the purpose behind my post.”
