— from Michael Riordan via Seattle Times —
As the numbers of local coronavirus cases and deaths grow inexorably, Seattle-area citizens are paying the awful price of the US president’s disdain for science. Our sprawling metropolitan area has become the US epicenter of this new disease, which could have been better contained had his administration not turned its back on prudent prevention and control efforts.
The departure of Admiral Timothy Ziemer last May and the dissolution of his global health security team at the National Security Council by John Bolton left the Trump administration rudderless in confronting global pandemics such as the one now staring us starkly in the face. “America First!” unfortunately does not help corral viruses that can cross national borders almost as easily as the wind.
The appropriate response to such global threats is inherently international.
The president has attempted to gut the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A hiring freeze that led to hundreds of vacant staff positions hurt its infectious disease-control abilities and health-emergency readiness. And his 2021 budget, released in February, proposed an unconscionable 16 percent funding cut for the CDC, aiming to further reduce spending on global health.
It’s hardly any wonder, then, that “the rollout of a CDC-designed test kit to state and local labs has become a fiasco because it contained a faulty reagent,” according to the authoritative magazine Science. Despite plenty of advance notice that the virus was headed our way, with the first US case showing up in Everett on January 20, testing was initially limited narrowly to travelers from China and to those with whom known victims had come into close contact. And until late February, tests had to be done by the Atlanta-based agency because of the test-kit flaw, taking precious additional days.
READ FULL ARTICLE: www.seattletimes.com/opinion/in-the-age-of-coronavirus-our-nation-needs-a-responsible-leader-who-trusts-scientists/
https://youtu.be/BRKSGMZ93IY
Vid from The Atlantic.
KING local news says today (March 6) that all residents of the care home at the epicenter of Washington’s outbreak WILL BE tested. That means they haven’t BEEN tested yet! Heck, in the same amount of time, China built two hospitals.
We don’t want to be authoritarian like China, but it sure would be nice to get back to the competence that produced the Berlin Air Lift, the Marshall Plan, the Rural Electrification Act (hence OPALCO), the CCC (hence amenities at Moran State Park), and the Voting Rights Act, for a start. As I’ve told our daughter, our government doesn’t have to be like this. It used to be better. It can be again.
Please vote.
Thank you Leif. Excellent video, just excellent.
Oh, and many thanks for your very thoughtful comments, Michael. Well said.
Exactly right, Lynn.
We can be better than this Trump response that attempts to distract from reality and to obstruct the necessary steps to address gather information that will allow us to more effectively address the threat to our communities of COVID-19.
Our reality is, unfortunately, wholly dependent on the total and ongoing disconnect with reality that is the current Administration’s hallmark, and will we be any better-prepared when the next pandemic hits? Why wait until an issue becomes a crisis before you try to stick your finger in the dike? There was ample opportunity to get ahead of many of the issues that have now contributed to the current crisis, such as the failure to make reliable and effective testing available.
I am also very upset at our lack of knowledge about how widespread this epidemic is, especially how many people there are out there who are asymtomatic but are still at work, etc.
Thank you, Michael and Lynn, for your thoughtful comments.
To be able to reassure the American public takes credibility, the kind of credibility that Barack Obama had, and scientists like Anthony Fauci and NIH Director Francis Collins have. This president has no such credibility, having squandered it in countless tweets and lies. He should shut up, step aside, and let his betters try to manage the worsening crisis.
But will he?
No, his ego is too large to let him see beyond his nose.
Of course, it might’ve been helpful, had the Chinese government not stuck its collective head in the sand when the Corona Virus first showed up.
Their timely response could’ve restricted the spread of the virus, and also could’ve saved countless lives.
But instead, the Chinese government not only pretended that nothing was wrong, but they also punished the doctor who discovered the problem and tried to warn everyone. He subsequently died of the disease that he had been trying to control.
Nice work, China!
What was that saying about glass houses? I guess we are about to see how well the US response measures up to the example set by China. So far, not so good… Maybe if we all go clean our guns and wave enough red hats in the air the problem will fix itself.
To Michael’s point: As of 3/2/2020, So. Korea (51 Million people) had completed 66,652 covid-19 tests; Italy (60 Million) 9,462 tests; United Kingdom (68 Million) 7,132 tests. As of 3/1/2020, the US (331 Million) had been able to conclude only 445 tests. (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/covid-19-testing/)
There you go again, Steve.
This is called “distraction,” a favorite technique of our Liar in Chief when confronted by undeniable truth. You are of course right that the Chinese Communists initially tried to cover up the emerging disease and downplay the impacts. This is a favorite tactic of any authoritarian government, including our own. But then the Chinese resorted to repressive measures that could not be contemplated in a more open society like our own. It remains to be seen whether more democratic approaches will work.
Be sure to watch Anthony Fauci on CBS News “60 Minutes” this evening.
Despicably sad commentary. Scapegoating, finger pointing, and blame-laying, rife with inaccuracies, half- truths and innuendo. To what purpose? I don’t think any minds will be changed.
Progressives call for an expansive federal role, but federal leadership is denied credibility by half the population so when offered, our governor rebuffs the Vice Presidents call. As Washingtonians die he revisits the federal option and is labelled a snake by tweet. Now we’re getting somewhere!
Any adults in the room?
Dear Editor, If the current coronavirus teaches us (meaning the CDC) anything, I pray that it will focus on using our current understanding of virus transmission, especially the facts that indicate importance of the host to the virus. As Joel Fuhrman, MD, points out in Super Immunity, with much research evidence, a host that is nutritionally competent alters the virus itself. One small example: a vegetarian-focused nutritional intake has been shown to coincide with fewer colds and fevers in school children. Since the 1930s, we have known the positive effects on the immune system of hundreds of micronutrients, mostly found in plants.
Indeed, it is time to pull our tummies out of the potato chips and begin to change the way we think about what we eat and its impact on our health. Preventive measures such as not intincting at Comnunion, nor shaking hands during the Peace, are simply puny compared to focusing on a microchemically-rich diet.
There are signs that the general public is way beyond the CDC in understanding: an acquaintance whose vet advised putting down her dog, which “had”severe cancer, first took her canine to MacDonald’s for a final meal, a loving gesture of two cheeseburgers and a large side of fries.
I would like to propose a six-month study in which a control group would eat the way they prefer, corresponding to a “normal American diet,” compared to a group of vegetarians and/or vegans. Coronavirus-rich location.
Sincerely yours,
Jan Ferris Koltun, MPH
As Anthony Fauci said on “60 Minutes yesterday, “When bad things happen, your credibility is lost because you downplayed something.”
He didn’t say so explicitly, but we all know to whom his “you” refers. How long before our increasingly irrelevant, feckless president fires Fauci for upstaging him?
I rest my case.