Yet another example of why religious zealots in positions of power are dangerous

[Major Nikon]

This week we found out the orange presidunce put Mike Fucking Pence in charge of the federal coronavirus response.

It's worth pointing out that while governor of Indiana during an HIV outbreak, Pence spent praying to his invisible sky daddy over what to do about it and pledging to veto any funding for needle exchange programs. The result was estimated to have caused an additional 127 cases.

Findings
The upper bound for undiagnosed HIV infections in Scott County peaked at 126 around Jan 10, 2015, over 2 months before the Governor of Indiana declared a public health emergency on March 26, 2015. Applying the observed case-finding rate scale-up to earlier intervention times suggests that an earlier public health response could have substantially reduced the total number of HIV infections (estimated to have been 183–184 infections by Aug 11, 2015). Initiation of a response on Jan 1, 2013, could have suppressed the number of infections to 56 or fewer, averting at least 127 infections; whereas an intervention on April 1, 2011, could have reduced the number of infections to ten or fewer, averting at least 173 infections.

https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S2352-3018%2818%2930176-0

It should also be noted that after then House representative Mike Pence voted for cuts in Planned Parenthood in 2011, the direct result was the closing of the only HIV testing center in Indiana.

So the next time someone tries to tell you that religion gets all the credit for all the good things religionists do and never deserves any blame for the bad things religionists do, please remind them they are completely and utterly full of shit.