wgdsr wrote: ↑Thu Apr 02, 2020 2:22 am
DocBarrister wrote: ↑Thu Apr 02, 2020 12:16 am
wgdsr wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 11:19 pm
DocBarrister wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 10:32 pm
A president unfit for a pandemic
Much of the suffering and death coming was preventable. The president has blood on his hands.
... While the spread of the novel coronavirus has been aggressive around the world, much of the profound impact it will have here in the United States was preventable. As the American public braces itself for the worst of this crisis, it’s worth remembering that the reach of the virus here is not attributable to an act of God or a foreign invasion, but a colossal failure of leadership.
The outbreak that began in China demanded a White House that could act swiftly and competently to protect public health, informed by science and guided by compassion and public service.
... What we have instead is a president epically outmatched by a global pandemic. A president who in late January, when the first confirmed coronavirus case was announced in the United States, downplayed the risk and insisted all was under control.
... A president who has reinforced racial stigma by calling the contagion a “Chinese virus” and failed to collaborate adequately with other countries to contain their outbreaks and study the disease. A president who evades responsibility and refuses to acknowledge, let alone own, the bitter truth of National Institutes of Health scientist Dr. Anthony Fauci’s testimony: that the country’s testing rollout was “a failing.”
... The pandemic reveals that the worst features of this presidency are not merely late-night comedy fodder; they come at the cost of lives, livelihoods, and our collective psyche.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/03/30/ ... ntentQuery
DocBarrister
list all the countries that handled this in fashion perfecto, or anywhere close, to arrive at a different outcome. so we can revisit in a month.
No nation handled the pandemic perfectly, but South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore handled it relatively well.
Even among the nations that have handled the pandemic poorly, Trump is a horrible outlier.
Defending Trump is just imprudent (my polite term), so don’t.
In terms of moral culpability, Trump really does have blood on his hands.
DocBarrister
so is that 2 countries and 2 cities? in the world?
all who went thru sars pretty intently? who are cuffing and tracking citizens and fining them $10k for being inside 6 feet of each other?
yeah, that'd work here.
btw, singapore's numbers translated to population would be 60k cases and 4300 just yesterday in the u.s.
hong kong might be ramping up.
we'll see how they're doing in a month.
btw, i have not defended trump if you have read. i'm questioning your ability to assess the situation and understand the real culprits for our situation. in the interim, you can refrain from telling me what i can and cannot do.
And who are you to question my “ability to assess the situation and understand the real culprits for our situation?” I’m educated and trained in medicine, law, and public health, with degrees in each. I have worked in health policy and lobbied on health and regulatory issues in DC. You?
I am still hoping that we can avoid the worst projected outcomes. We may still be able to do that.
But Trump has made just about every mistake a leader can make in responding to a global pandemic.
—He lied, when transparency and truth are crucial.
—He failed to lead in demanding tough shutdown measures which China had already initiated.
—He failed to immediately order industry to develop the most important tool for fighting a pandemic ... an accurate diagnostic test. The South Korean government held their emergency meeting with industry in a train station ... they didn’t even bother spending the extra time to get another venue.
—He repeatedly downplayed the crisis for six weeks. Was doing that even last week with his “Easter” delusion.
—He failed to listen to the experts.
—He failed in basic communication (e.g., discussing a quarantine of the tri-state area without even calling the governors).
—His “shipping clerk” comment betrayed his complete lack of understanding regarding the management of logistics in a crisis like that.
—His inconsistent policies and poor management skills have fostered confusion and chaos.
—He mistakenly believes that economic activity and control of the pandemic were at odds, when resuming economic activity wholly depends on getting the pandemic under control.
That’s just a partial list. Textbook examples of catastrophic mistakes. His delay in acting was a crucial error.
Trump’s mistakes may cost tens of thousands of American lives. That’s not an opinion, that’s a fact.
Why are we even discussing the possibility of nearly a quarter million dead? That just reflects the colossal scope of Trump’s mistakes.
Worst of all, it’s not even clear that those were mistakes. Trump reportedly gambled that the the pandemic would dissipate with warmer weather, a gamble with no scientific basis. As always, he prioritized his own interests above anything else.
The United States will have a death toll that will dwarf that of any other nation. How is that even possible?
DocBarrister
