a fan wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:33 pm
kramerica.inc wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:25 pm
But in June there was a national collective in the media that changed that goal to eliminate deaths and hospitalizations completely, which is/was impossible.
No. The media narrative was/is: every other 1st world county has done better than the US in terms of per capita deaths, and GDP drop.
And, of course, reacting to TrumpLand not wanting to hear this, because it's the worst thing in the world if anyone dares says that Trump doesn't fly over buildings in a single bound.
You understand that the whole "America is doing a great job with Covid" is just flat out insane, right?
We have NOT done a great job. Blame whomever you choose.....but it's irrefutable that we have not done well so far.
correct.
Kram, I do think that the "flatten the curve" paradigm was a rhetorical shortfall, as it should have been "crush the curve".
We initially had a near existential problem in NY and nearby with the threat of an overrun hospital system, food supply breakdown, either or both of which could have led to a societal collapse. So, "flatten" below hospital capacity was the most urgent issue, for sure. Thank god we didn't breach that point, but it was darn close.
However, all of the epidemiological experts made clear that we needed to sustain our efforts thoroughly through the end of June and to then be able to transition to an intensive test, trace, and isolate strategy to crush any new outbreaks. Do that, and deaths would have gone to near zero by August.
Note, that would have meant we could work and some play in a near, if not fully, normal way by July/August and be doing so now. With far, far fewer deaths and way, way lower incidence of the virus to continue to "crush". Yes, social distancing and masks, but back to work, school, and some play, all in modified forms.
Unfortunately, the messaging from the White House, particularly from Trump directly, was not nearly as clear and forthright as was necessary to achieve "crush" and he quickly pivoted to using the efforts at the state levels as a political dividing line, politicizing mask wearing, social distancing, etc...blaming 'blue states', etc.
Likewise, there was an abdication of federal responsibility to drive the testing capabilities, having bumbled testing so badly out of the gate. Same for PPE, abdicated...yes, a lot of ventilators have been made, but crushing the amount of virus spread was de-prioritized by Trump.
We're now doing a ton of testing...which would be plenty had we first crushed the incidence level as recommended, but is woefully inadequate to actually achieve the test, trace, isolate strategy given the incidence of the virus across the country.
And Trump continues to undermine mask wearing at each turn. Grossly dumb.
But it's more than just dumb.
