“To keep new cases from
entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United
State for the next 30 days.” – President Trump on March 11th, 2020.
Completely different tones
huh?
This is a rapid shift from a
president and administration that appears utterly unprepared, undereducated and
simply distraught by the recent coronavirus outbreak.
On March 11th,
the World Health Organization declared covid-19 (short for Corona-virus-disease
2019) a pandemic. A decision a spokesman said “should not be taken lightly” but
should also “not cause more panic.”
The definition of a pandemic
is "a disease that spreads over a large region, multiple continents or the
entire world.” The WHO’s decision to declare covid-19 a pandemic should raise
alarms across the globe. Covid-19 now stands in the company of other pandemics,
including cholera, influenza, SARS and yellow fever.
Trump's call for a travel
ban from European countries reiterated the utter lack of organization in this
administration. After his seemingly confusing announcement, several agencies
had to release statements clarifying the president’s statements, muddying the
water even more. If you are an American citizen or green card holder, you may return
home during this ban. Therefore, stating this is a “ban” on all travel to or
from Europe is false.
But this just another false
claim to come out of the white house during this entire debacle. In fact,
between Trump and his white house, swarms of false claims have hit the
airwaves, including claiming the coronavirus is just like the flu, claiming
cases in the US will be at “basically zero” (as of right now, the number stands at
1300+ with 40 deaths), immigration led to the spread of the virus, claiming
that 3600 people have been tested (the real number was around 500 at the time
of this claim) claiming that “anyone who wants a test can get one” (this has
been proven demonstrably false by a multitude of news agencies) claiming that
Obama’s administration prevented “what we wanted to do with testing” (I am not
even going to engage this moronic comment).
So why does it matter? Who
cares if Trump and his administration are openly lying about the coronavirus?
It matters because, between
the crashing stock market and the lack of stocked shelves with toilet paper,
people in this country are afraid. And instead of stoking fears, placing blame
or outright lying our government should be reassuring and protecting us.
But this administration cut
the budget of the CDC by nearly 16%. This included cutting funding for a
variety of global disease fighting funds, including a multitude of task forces
that primarily focused on global disease. In 2017, Trump fired several people
who played key roles in connection with pandemic response, positions his
administration never actually refilled. Right now, only 3 of the 100 CDC run
testing facilities have the capability to test for this particular virus. That
is a real problem. In order to slow the spread of a disease, rapid testing and
identification of “hot spots” where the disease is spreading is of the utmost
importance. But we can’t and that is why public health officials are stating
that this disease is going to get “much worse” before it gets better.
Mike Pence, the vice
president, is now in charge of the outbreak response. Great. Fantastic. The man
who let an HIV outbreak in his home state of Indiana infect thousands before
responding appropriately. Pence ignored warnings from a multitude of agencies,
physicians, and scientists about this serious HIV outbreak. The outbreak got so
out of control, the CDC had to step in and make recommendations. Pence and
state officials eventually put said recommendations into place, slowing and
eventually stopping the outbreak.
Why is this concerning?
Because this administration has a history of ignoring scientific fact (Pence
once stated that prayer could fix our healthcare system) and experts on a
variety of issues (including climate change). At a time when listening to the
experts is extremely important, this administration has shown us, time and time
again, that they are incapable of doing so. So it is up to us, as an educated
and informed populace, to take care of ourselves.
To stay safe during this
outbreak, the CDC recommends avoiding large crowds, staying home if you’re
feeling ill and frequent hand washing.
I have included a variety of
sources and data, charts and such, for you to read and review. Please do so,
please remain informed.
There is a link to an NPR
story at the end of the sources that I highly recommend.
Sources:
No comments:
Post a Comment