The three doctors were the only federal officials who appeared on stage wearing masks. None spoke at any point during the press conference.
Instead, it was Slaoui, the former GlaxoSmithKline executive who Trump has appointed to lead the vaccine initiative, who delivered yet another strikingly confident prediction.
“Mr. President, I have very recently seen early data from a clinical trial with a coronavirus vaccine,” he said to applause. “These data make me feel even more confident that we will be able to deliver a few hundred million doses of vaccine by the end of 2020.”
Reuters, 12/31/2020
Only about 2.8 million Americans had received a COVID-19 vaccine going into the last day of December, putting the United States far short of the government’s target to vaccinate 20 million people this month.
Shots are reaching nursing home residents at an even slower pace than others first in line even though they are most at risk of dying of the virus.
Some 170,000 people in long-term care facilities received a shot as of Dec. 30 although 2.2 million doses have been distributed for residents, according to data released from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
MSNBC, 3/24/2021
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May 14 update starts here
2020 Wisconsin GOP legislative leaders with their Supreme Court lapdogs
Wisconsin State Journal, 5/14/2020
In a joint statement, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, indicated they want to create new administrative rules to manage the pandemic.
“We would urge the Evers administration to work with us to begin promulgating rules that would provide clear guidance in case COVID-19 reoccurs in a more aggressive way,” Fitzgerald and Vos said.
The two leaders added they believe businesses can safely reopen using COVID-19 guidelines created by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., and that they trust Wisconsinites to continue to follow social distancing, handwashing and telecommuting without an extensive state order.
They did nothing but politicize every aspect of the pandemic.
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May 13 update starts here
Several lawmakers on the panel took exception to Jha’s statements, including Rep. Mark Green, a Republican from Tennessee. “I'm sorry, but we shut the economy down to flatten the curve, to not max out our ICU bed capacity and our ventilator capacity, period. It wasn’t an absence of testing that caused us to shut down the economy. We shut down the economy to save lives, American lives, because of the ICU and ventilator issue,” Green said.
It's as though Green is teeing up Trump for this later nonsense.'
Green, by the way, is one of the wingnut congressional Republicans who objected to the certification of Electoral College results in certain states.
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May 12 update starts here
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey will allow professional sporting events in the state starting on Friday.
“We have had some discussions with leaders in these leagues,” Ducey said Tuesday.
So far, none of the major US sports leagues have announced when their events will resume.
A number of Major League Baseball teams have their spring training games in Arizona, and Ducey has previously said the state may be able to accommodate games for other teams that normally play elsewhere.
It will be another 9 weeks before Major League Baseball's spring training schedule resumes.
(highlights and arrow added)
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May 11 update starts here
The Guardian, 5/11/2020
Pence’s spokeswoman, Katie Miller, the wife of Stephen Miller, one of the president’s closest aides, who is in frequent close contact with the Trump family, tested positive last week. It was unclear if Stephen Miller had entered self-isolation.
“There is extreme sensitivity inside the White House right now at the current state of affairs – officials recognise the contradiction in telling states to reopen while the White House enhances protocols to prevent spread of the virus,” CNN quoted an anonymous Trump administration official as saying.
Setting a bad example for the world day after day after day.
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May 10 update starts here
The Guardian, 5/10/2020
Earlier this week, the Republican governor, Tate Reeves, allowed restaurants to host dining at half-capacity, retail stores to reopen with restrictions and up to 20 people to gather in groups outside. But one thing that has shown no sign of relaxing is the state’s number of Covid-19 cases.
Three days before the governor’s latest guidance, Mississippi announced its highest number of daily cases and deaths. On Friday the tally stood at 396 deaths – far from the worst in America but certain to rise. Other states in the south, including Georgia, Texas and Florida, have also moved to open despite growing numbers of cases.
Like many conservative governors, Reeves has taken cues from Donald Trump, who has encouraged states to open in the face of White House taskforce guidance, which states that phased reopening should not commence until a 14-day decrease in the number of coronavirus cases has been seen. [emphasis added]
On May 10, 2020, Mississippi's 7-day average of new Covid cases was 279.
Less than three months later, on July 30, Mississippi's 7-day average of new Covid cases was 1,361, an increase of nearly 400% since May 10.
On January 10, 2021, Mississippi's 7-day average of new Covid cases was 2,432, an increase of 770% since May 10.
Mississippi's current 7-day average of new Covid cases is 181.
About face!
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May 9 update starts here
The Guardian, 5/9/2020
On Monday the Republican governor of Nebraska, Pete Ricketts, a close ally of Donald Trump and frequent visitor to the White House, opened his daily coronavirus briefing with a big announcement. “Today is May 4,” he said, “the first day of loosened restrictions statewide.”
With his declaration, Ricketts placed Nebraska at the vanguard of America’s reopening. Churches can now open their doors to worshippers, wedding bells and funeral dirges will be heard once more, hospitals can reschedule elective surgeries, and most Nebraskans will be able to resumehaving their hair cut, nails manicured, bodies massaged and skin tattooed.
Restaurants are once again serving diners, though at half capacity. Nebraska Crossing has become one of the first malls in North America to welcome back shoppers.Didn't work out so well. After May 4th, there was still along way to go.
Omaha World-Herald, 10/16/2020
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May 8 update starts here
New York Times, 5/8/2020
Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, told reporters that “we’ve put in some additional protocols over the last 48 hours” to reduce the risk and expressed confidence that the president could be protected. “This is probably the safest place that you can come to,” he said. [emphasis added]
5 months later
ABC News, 10/7/2020
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May 7 update starts here
Hail, hail, the gang that couldn't shoot straight is all here!
Washington Post, 5/7/2020
His administration has [bullet points added]
- sidelined or replaced officials not seen as loyal,
- rebuffed congressional requests for testimony
- dismissed jarring statistics and models
- praised states for reopening without meeting White House guidelines and, briefly,
- pushed to disband a task force created to combat the virus and communicate about the public health crisis.
Several Republican governors are following Trump’s lead as an effort takes shape to control the narrative about a pandemic that has continued to rage throughout a quickly reopening country.
With polls showing most consumers still afraid to venture out of their homes, the Trump administration has intensified its efforts to soothe some of those fears through a messaging campaign that relies on tightly controlling information about a virus that has proven stubbornly difficult to contain.
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May 6 update starts here
Kayleigh McIninny
(as it should be spelled)
(as it should be spelled)
New York Times, 5/6/2020
That partial retreat did not mean that Mr. Trump had changed his mind about the broader direction. At a news briefing later in the afternoon, Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, described the task force’s battle with the virus as if it were largely past.
“They’ve gotten our country through this,” she said. “There were supposed to be 2.2 million deaths, and we’re at a point where we’re far lower than that thanks to the great work of the task force and the leadership of President Trump.”Yup, Ms. McIninny, FANTASTIC work!!
Ms. McIninny is now part of the Fox News team. I suspect no one else would hire her.
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May 5 update starts here
Rebecca Bradley
Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice
and WILL clown show troupe member
Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice
and WILL clown show troupe member
Washington Post, 5/5/2020
“I’ll direct your attention to another time in history, in the Korematsu decision, where the court said the need for action is great and time is short, and that justified ‘assembling together and placing under guard all those of Japanese ancestry’ in assembly centers during World War II,” said Justice Rebecca Bradley, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court case in 1944 that upheld internment camps.
Bradley said, “Isn’t it the very definition of tyranny for one person to order people to be imprisoned for going to work among other ordinarily lawful activities?”
No, Rebecca, it's the very definition of ideological idiocy.
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May 4 update starts here
New York Times, 5/4/2020
The White House has barred members of its coronavirus task force and their aides from appearing before Congress this month without the express approval of Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, according to an email obtained by The New York Times.
In addition, officials with “primary response departments,” including the Departments of State, Health and Human Services and Homeland Security, will be restricted to appearing at four hearings department-wide for the duration of May.
The White House Office of Legislative Affairs laid out the policy in an email to senior congressional aides, noting that it could change before the end of the month. “
Agencies must maximize their resources for Covid-19 response efforts and treat hearing requests accordingly,” the message said. (As in blowing them off.)
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May 3 update starts here
Former Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo
Mike Pompeo
New York Times, 5/3/2020
That's what sycophants do.
Senior American officials, including those who have looked at intelligence and who favor the lab theory, have said in private that evidence pointing to a lab accident is mainly circumstantial and based on public material. Intelligence officers have told senior administration officials that they probably will not find proof of a lab accident. And among scientists and especially virologists, there is largely agreement that the chances that a lab accident sparked the outbreak are slim, while the probability that the new virus made the leap from an animal to a human in a nonlab setting in southern China is much higher.
USA Today, 2/9/2021
May 2 update starts here
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
We also need to make sure our health care system is ready, make sure we have adequate resources and beds and the staff is protected,” DeSantis said.
The governor said he could see fans attend major sporting events in Florida by June or July. Churches were never ordered to close under the governor’s executive order and will remain open.
During his presentation, DeSantis did not address when Floridians could expect to see theme parks or major attractions reopen or speak to Florida’s troubled unemployment system.
The governor took a few questions from reporters before leaving the room. “We obviously need an economic recovery,” the governor said, touching briefly on the financial fallout.
July 2020 headline: Florida hosipitals overwhelmed by Covid surge.
The Florida Marlins did not allow fans at games in 2020 and started the 2001 season at 25% capacity (9,300 or 37,446).
___________________________________________________________________________May 1 update starts here
White House spokesman
Judd Deere
Judd Deere
Fauci has become one of the most well recognized experts in the administration's coronavirus response team, often speaking publicly during task force briefings, and at times, seeming to contradict statements made by President Trump.
A White House official said: "We expressed openness from the White House to having him testify but requested we be given the parameters of what the hearing would entail so we could determine if he was the best guess or if it was someone else's jurisdiction."
The official said the chair didn't follow up, adding: "If this was truly a serious effort to have someone testify on the appropriations need around coronavirus, they certainly didn't handle it like it was."
On Friday, White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement that the administration was "committed to working with Congress to offer testimony at the appropriate time."
That's what a mouthpiece does: prevaricate.
Related series of official/sycophants posts:
Related series of posts: Day by day: What Trump said about the pandemic.
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