Thursday, July 15, 2021

Day by day: What Trump administration officials and GOP sycophants said about the virus (July 1-15, 2020)



1986 novel worth reading

The White House is trying to have it both ways on Anthony S. Fauci. On the one hand, it posted an anti-Fauci cartoon and wrote talking points and an op-ed about how wrong he’s allegedly been. On the other hand, its spokespeople are insisting there’s nothing to see here — that this isn’t part of a concerted anti-Fauci effort. 
“It couldn’t be further from the truth,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Monday after the White House anonymously circulated old Fauci quotes. 
But just a day later, Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro wrote an op-ed denouncing Fauci in USA Today. Despite the op-ed using similar talking points, the White House suggested Navarro had gone rogue.


And the worst is yet to come.

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July 14 update starts  here

Will the real Michael Caputo please stand up.



Today, the C.D.C. still has at least a week lag in reporting hospital data,” Mr. Caputo said. “America requires it in real time. The new, faster and complete data system is what our nation needs to defeat the coronavirus, and the C.D.C., an operating division of H.H.S., will certainly participate in this streamlined all-of-government response. They will simply no longer control it.” 
But the instructions to hospitals in the department guidance are explicit and underscored: “As of July 15, 2020, hospitals should no longer report the Covid-19 information in this document to the National Healthcare Safety Network site,” the C.D.C.’s system for gathering data from more than 25,000 medical centers around the country.

Social distancing?  Meh!

Masking up?  Meh!

Vaccines?  Meh!

Another sample of Caputo's nuttiness.

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July 13 update starts here

Will the real Chuck Woolery please stand up


Politico, 7/13/2020
On Monday morning, he retweeted messages from the politically conservative former game show personality Chuck Woolery — who served stints hosting “Wheel of Fortune” and “Love Connection” — which lamented the “most outrageous lies” being spread about the coronavirus pandemic.  
 “Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust. I think it’s all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I’m sick of it,” Woolery wrote in a tweet shared by the president.

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July 12 update starts here


New York Times, 7/12/2020
“We’re all very concerned about the rise in cases, no doubt about that,” Admiral Giroir, the official who has been in charge of the administration’s coronavirus testing response, said on ABC’s “This Week.” 
“We do expect deaths to go up,” he said. “If you have more cases, more hospitalizations, we do expect to see that over the next two or three weeks before this turns around.”  [emphasis added]

The next few weeks and beyond.

Worldometers (box and arrow added)

Covid Tracking Project (through March 7, 2021; box and arrow added)

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July 11 update starts here



New York Times

Heckuva job, Fuckwad!

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July 10 update starts here

Is he blaming it on testing?!


“Things will get worse, and let me explain why,” he told KLBK TV in Lubbock. “The deaths that we’re seeing announced today and yesterday — which are now over 100 — those are people who likely contracted COVID-19 in late May. “The worst is yet to come as we work our way through that massive increase in people testing positive.”

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July 9 update starts here


Ron DeSantis in so many words:  "Our kids:  just another commodity that I can use as a political tool.   Just like fast-food burgers!"


“We spent months saying that there were certain things that were essential that included fast-food restaurants. It included Walmart and Home Depot and Lowe’s,” DeSantis said at a news conference in Jacksonville with U.S. Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia. “If all that is essential, then educating our kids is absolutely essential, and they have been put to the back of the line in some respects.”

Note that the number of new cases is going up again. 

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July 8 update starts here

Murtaugh photo credit:  Delco Today

Find the dog whistles in Murtaugh's responseTrump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said the campaign went to great lengths to ensure that those who attended the rally were protected. 
“There were literally no health precautions to speak of as thousands looted, rioted, and protested in the streets and the media reported that it did not lead to a rise in coronavirus cases,” Murtaugh said in a statement. “Meanwhile, the President’s rally was 18 days ago, all attendees had their temperature checked, everyone was provided a mask, and there was plenty of hand sanitizer available for all. 
“It’s obvious that the media’s concern about large gatherings begins and ends with Trump rallies,” he said. 
Although masks were provided to rally goers, there was no requirement that participants wear them, and most didn’t. 
A reporter who attended the Trump rally is among those who have tested positive for COVID-19, along with six of Trump’s campaign staffers and two members of the Secret Service who worked in advance of the rally.


Trump's Tulsa rally took place on June 20, 2020.

By July 8, 2020, the 7-day average of new Covid cases in Oklahoma had increased nearly 100% -- to 540.  By the end of July, it had jumped to 1,106.

Heckuva job, superspreader Donnie!

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July 7 update starts here


The state was among the first to widely open its economy in May but has since had to walk balk some of its reopenings as cases have increased. Abbott allowed the state’s stay-at-home order to end on April 30 and by May 1, all stores, restaurants, movie theaters and malls were allowed to reopen with modifications.  [emphasis added]

As of July 7, 2020, Covid was a long way from over in Texas.


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July 6 update starts here


Tampa Bay Times, 7/6/2020

At a minimum, wishful thinking.    Gov. Ron DeSantis said the growing coronavirus case numbers in Florida are not necessarily a reflection of the outbreak, which he said has “stabilized.”  
“I want us to be in May. I want us to be in early June,” DeSantis said, referring to the state’s low rate of positive test results from earlier in the pandemic. “We want to get back to that for sure. I think we’ve stabilized at where we’re at. 

 

Florida's 7-day average of new cases on July 6, 2020:  8,756.

Florida's 7 day average of new cases on January 8, 2021:  17,991.

New York Times (arrows added)

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June 6 update starts here


USA Today, 7/5/2020
"There will be ample access to hand sanitizer and all attendees will be provided a face mask that they are strongly encouraged to wear," says the news release.

Trump White House:  superspreading the virus one rally at a time.

Fortunately, Fay took charge.



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July 4 update starts here


CNN, 7/4/2020
The Washington, DC, celebration does not appear to be following US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines concerning gatherings despite deputy White House press secretary Judd Deere telling CNN this week that the White House would enforce social distancing.   
CNN has asked the White House whether guests are being tested or having temperatures checked but has yet to receive a response. The White House stopped temperature checks of all those entering the White House grounds weeks ago. Reporters at Saturday's event have not been tested or received a temperature check. 
A campaign aide familiar with the President's prepared remarks for Saturday night characterized them as "patriotic" and said the President will celebrate America's founding and the triumphs of American history while saluting the US military. The aide said the President "will appeal to the very best in the American Character."  [emphasis iadded]


Yeah, right!

 


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July 3 update starts here

GET ME REWRITE:  "We need to live with it and die by it."  White Houses readies new lies for the nation on coronavirus. 

Worldometers (red arrows added)


NBC News, 7/3/2020
At the crux of the message, officials said, is a recognition by the White House that the virus is not going away any time soon — and will be around through the November election[emphasis added]
As a result, President Donald Trump's top advisers plan to argue, the country must figure out how to press forward despite it. Therapeutic drugs will be showcased as a key component for doing that and the White House will increasingly emphasize the relatively low risk most Americans have of dying from the virus, officials said.

Hundreds of thousands of American lives dispensable, in other words.

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July 2 update starts here


Trump did not take questions on Thursday, but Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said the administration did not regret turning its attention to getting people back to work. 
“There’s a safe way to reopen the economy, and we’re going to do that carefully,” he said. 
Dr. Eric Toner, a senior scholar with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, disagreed.\ 
“It’s very clear that the increasing caseload is due to premature relaxing of the containment measures,” he said. “Some states did not wait for all the metrics; they did not wait for testing and contact tracing to be in place, and opened too fast.” 
“We could have reopened the economy safely. But we did not,” Toner added.

Translation:  Toner is saying that Mnuchin doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about.

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July 1 update starts here 


Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said that "for the first time in a long time" the number of active cases in the state decreased. 
The 420 new Covid-19 cases reported Wednesday is the lowest number of active cases the state has seen in sometime, Hutchinson said. 
Hospitalization rates have gone down as well, he said. At least 275 people remain hospitalized.


Subsequent days:
  • July 2 -      878
  • July 3 -      547
  • July 4 -      587
  • July 5 -      605
  • July 6 -      439
  • July 7 -      259
  • July 8 -      734
  • July 9 -      806
  • July 10 -    751
  • July 11 - 1,061

Arkansas reported 686 new Covid cases on June 30, 2021.

The Delta variant is spreading.





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