generalspeaking

Undermining Medical Authority

"The virus remains public enemy number one."
"If basics are not followed, the only way this pandemic is going to go, it is going tog et worse and worse and worse."
"But it does not have to be this way."
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

"The most outrageous lies are the ones about COVID-19. Everyone is lying, the Centers for Disease Control, 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." 

"My son tested positive for the virus, and I feel for those suffering and especially for those who have lost loved ones."
"[I never said COVID was a hoax, but it was the only way my critics] could really twist and use it against me."
Chuck Woolery, game show host, United States

A week ago the announcement was made that total world infection is now above 13 million. It took just five days for the tally to leap forward by one million. Over a half million people have now died from the effects of the novel coronavirus. The disease, according to the Reuters global tally based on government reports, is rising fastest in Latin America, where more than half the world's infections and half the deaths are now occurring, thanks to the massive outbreak in Brazil.

The United States alone has over 3.3 million confirmed cases; elsewhere success has been realized in 'flattening the curve', making it possible to ease lockdowns. But in the United States a daily global record of 69,070 new cases was declared a week ago, while Brazil saw 1.86 million people test positive, including Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and where over 72,000 Brazilians have died.

Despite all of this, U.S. President Donal Trump and his White House officials repeat their contention that the disease has been brought under control, and that schools must reopen in the fall. It took three months to reach one million cases, from the time the first cases were reported in China. More currently it took a mere five days to climb to 13 million cases from 12 million recorded on July 8.

In the high stakes of COVID strikes, over 3.4 million Americans have contracted the disease, with 137,800 deaths reported in the United States. Trump's 83 million followers received a tweet from him re-tweeting accusations launched by the former game show host claiming "everyone is lying". A few days later that same game show host tweeted that his son has tested positive for COVID, and he closed down his Twitter account.

Insisting that the CDC guidelines for school reopening were impractical, expensive and tough, the Trump administration plans to proceed under their own guidelines. Ex game show host Woolery's podcast co-host tweeted that the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, is interested in instituting "an ID card to go shopping", and President Trump re-tweeted that, too.

"Dr.Fauci is a nice man, but he's made a lot of mistakes", Trump told the Fox News Channel. In an interview with the Financial Times a day later, Dr.Fauci admitted he has not, for the past two months, briefed President Trump. Over the weekend the White House distributed lists of statements Fauci committed in the early pandemic days that were overturned once understanding of the disease deepened. Dr.Fauci has no idea why President Trump is undermining his medical credentials.