Forest Flashbacks: COVID Case at Dan Forest Rally, Terrible Attendance Record Makes News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Saturday, October 31, 2020
CONTACT: Liz Doherty

RALEIGH — Forest Flashbacks aims to provide a snapshot of Dan Forest’s week in review. Here are the toplines from this week:

PolitiFact Rates Claim that “Dan Forest Missed Nearly Half of SBE Meetings During Pandemic” TRUE

PolitiFact fact-checked Gov. Cooper’s claim that Dan Forest missed nearly half of State Board of Education meetings during the pandemic and rated it “TRUE.” Forest’s attendance record fits into an established, concerning pattern.
At the meetings that he missed, the State Board of Education voted on new graduation requirements, remote learning guidelines, GPA calculations, and made changes to testing and grading.
On several occasions, Forest was giving interviews on conservative radio and Fox Business at the same time as the meetings he missed. On at least two separate days where Forest failed to show up to the State Board of Education meeting, he found the time to squeeze in multiple campaign fundraisers.

COVID-19 Case Linked to Dan Forest Rally, Debunking Forest’s Claims There Hasn’t Been “A Single Instance”

ABC11 broke the news that a COVID-19 case has been linked to Dan Forest’s rally on October 15th.
Forest has touted that there have been no COVID-19 cases tied to his campaign events and has repeatedly bragged about the number of people that attended his Burnsville rally, claiming that 4,000 people attended the event.
Forest has shown no signs of stopping his dangerous campaign strategy of putting people in harm’s way. Since the October 15th campaign rally, he has held or attended numerous in-person campaign events with no masks or social distancing, including a Trump rally where two attendees have tested positive for COVID-19.
State media broadly covered the development: ABC11, AP, Fayetteville Observer, News and Observer, and WRAL.

Forest Says First Order of Business If Elected is to “Talk Public Health In General” (?)

During a radio interview, Forest said the first thing he’d work on as governor: “Start talking about public health in general, not just coronavirus health.” However, on the campaign trail, Forest has disregarded health and safety in the midst of flu season and the pandemic.
Forest has disregarded health experts’ advice and even his own advice. During the pandemic, he has held over 50 in-person campaign events with no safety precautions. Forest went against his own advice, making it his goal to “shake as many hands as we can” during flu season.
Forest has no health plan. The Atlantic reports “Forest is less clear on exactly what he would have done instead [during the pandemic], or what he would do if there’s another outbreak next year.” According to the National Journal, Forest has made it clear that he opposes Medicaid expansion, but refuses to flesh out his position on health care.

Cooper for NC Highlights Why Dan Forest Is Unfit to Be Governor

With three days left until the election, Cooper for NC is highlighting one reason that Dan Forest is unfit to be governor with each remaining day. There’s no shortage of reasons, so note that this list isn’t exhaustive. Find even more reasons Forest is unfit to be governor here.
Reason #3: Forest has repeatedly spread dangerous misinformation about the pandemic, saying “masks don’t work with viruses” and that kids are “17 times” more likely to get the flu than COVID-19.

NC Could Be Next State to Expand Medicaid, Forest and Republicans Block Expansion

Roll Call reports that North Carolina could be the next state to expand Medicaid if Democrats flip the NC legislature and re-elect Governor Cooper. Medicaid expansion would provide coverage to over half a million North Carolinians, benefit rural hospitals, and create 40,000 jobs.
Dan Forest and the Republican legislative leadership have blocked Medicaid at every turn. While Forest opposes expansion, he doesn’t have a plan to help those in the coverage gap.

READ.

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