Fact Check: Trump Handling of Coronavirus
Trump is taking a lot of abuse for his handling of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. For example, a recent essay on caucus99percent quotes LA Times reporting that "In previous emergencies, including ... the H1N1 flu outbreak, both Republican and Democratic administrations loosened Medicaid rules" and "months into the current global disease outbreak, the White House and senior federal health officials haven't taken the necessary steps".
This is patently untrue.
In fact, compared to how H1N1 was handled, Trump is moving at warp speed.
Timeline Comparison
The timeline of when events occurred when proves Trump has acted faster in declaring coronavirus a national emergency than Obama did with H1N1 in 2009.
1/20/2020 - First US case of coronavirus confirmed
1/31/2020 - Trump admin declares coronavirus a public health emergency
3/13/2020 - Trump declares coronavirus a national emergency
The Secretary of HHS may exercise the authority under section 1135 of the SSA to temporarily waive or modify certain requirements of the Medicare, Medicaid, and State Children’s Health Insurance programs and of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Rule throughout the duration of the public health emergency declared in response to the COVID‑19 outbreak.
Compare that to Obama's response to the H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic in 2009 that killed 18,000 Americans:
4/15/2009 - First US case of H1N1 confirmed
4/26/2009 - Obama admin declares H1N1 a public health emergency
10/24/2009 - OBama declares H1N1 a national emergency
I hereby declare that the Secretary may exercise the authority under section 1135 of the SSA to temporarily waive or modify certain requirements of the Medicare, Medicaid, and State Children's Health Insurance programs and of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Rule throughout the duration of the public health emergency declared in response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic.
Fact Checking
But ... but ... but ... you're thinking. What about Politifact rating "Flashback: Obama waited six months to call swine flu an emergency after thousands died" as FALSE?
The rating was applied to this article on a right-wing site called Prntly:
h1n1 was a big deal, but Obama didn’t know what the hell he was doing. In April of 2009, the H1N1 became a pandemic.
But it wasn’t until six months later, October, that then-President Obama declared a public health emergency on what was already a pandemic. By that time, the disease had infected millions of Americans and more than 1,000 people had died in the U.S.
Source: Prntly.com
Notice the phrase I highlighted -- public health emergency. Yes, it's false that the public health emergency declaration took 6 months. It actually took just 11 days, the exact same amount of time as Trump's. Instead, it was Obama's national emergency declaration that took 6 months, while Trump issued his in less than 2 months.
My verdict: Wrong emergency declaration, right time frame. Politifact should have acknowledged this fact but didn't.
Comments
Two good articles
on intelligence that should have happened or that should have been made public by agencies that know how to leak if it did happen:
Could there be other possibilities?
We know the Intelligence Agencies have not been on the best of terms with Trump since his election. In fact, they have been trying their best to stick a knife in his back and/or tie a noose around his neck during those three plus years.
Would these agencies conveniently "fail" to tell Trump the pertinent truths in a further attempt to kneecap him? Or did Trump not trust them to such an extent that he wouldn't listen to or believe them? Trump's obvious penchant for surrounding himself with sycophants does not bode well for an enlightened presidency.
I find it hard to believe American Intelligence agencies did not know what was going on in China. They have half their Signals Intelligence cruising the South China Sea so they would have been right on top of it when 10,000 PLA medics mobilized into Wuhan on a dozen Y-20's.
Neither of those possibilities
would surprise me at all. They are certainly capable of it.
"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi
"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone
I would like to know what Trump has actually
done to date in order to ameliorate the COVID-19 pandemic that will rage across the country in the coming month.
What is the nation's true state of testing, production of medical supplies/equipment and preparations for thousands of patients which will rapidly outstrip available facilities? Why is this information not available?
Obama's delay in recognizing the H1H1 in 2009 is not nearly as critical as it will be in the current COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-13 (1.0%) is deadlier by a factor of 10 compared to the H1N1 (0.1%). The second factor is that H1N1 influenza in 2009 had an R0 1.46 to 1.48 while COVID-19 is between 2 and 2.5. A third factor is the incubation period of COVID-19 can be well over three times as long and also be contagious during this period. Last, but not least, COVID-19 requires more extensive medical care due to the more severe pneumonia type complications it produces.
The US is going to pay a very high price for Trump's slow response to this pandemic. He had the chance to get on this following China's lead or, at the least, S. Korea's. Almost two months lead time wasted. Instead he was much, much more concerned about the US economy and financial health of the corporations. Obama did not have any lead time because the H1N1 epidemic originated in the US.
The WHO now says that the US could become the epicenter of the pandemic.
The following is a very ominous warning. I'm looking forward to Trump's next presser to see how he handles this downturn.
Coronavirus News: US Surgeon General Jerome Adams Warns That 'This Week, It's Gonna Get Bad'
Take note of the dangerous slope the US is tracking in new confirmed cases compared to the other countries in the top four. (US confirmed cases now stands at 60,000, up from the reported 46,500 on that chart.)
tRump is only looking for profit
https://shero.substack.com/p/trump-could-profit-from-coronavirus
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/jared-kushner-asked-karlie-klosss-d...
Your leaders at work....sigh
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
H1N1 did not originate in the US.
I stand corrected.
But, it was given a significant global impetus when it hit the US.
Also...
You wrote: "What is the nation's true state of testing, production of medical supplies/equipment and preparations for thousands of patients which will rapidly outstrip available facilities? Why is this information not available?"
All of that information IS available. It just needs research to uncover it and compilation to put it in a format you prefer.
Do have the link?
[Edited] There's not a single link.
I might do an essay on it in a day or two, but it requires a lot of research and compilation. Also keep in mind that many medical supplies are manufactured in China. Our corporations and political leaders decimated our domestic capabilities a long time ago.
Edit: H1N1 was more of a young people's disease so the death rate was not as high. They had far fewer preexisting conditions and underlying weaknesses.
[Edited] Not so slow.
As I point out up above, a public health emergency was declared 11 days after the first case was confirmed. And a national emergency 6 weeks after that. If you were president, what could you have done faster?
What did he accomplish in the weeks following
other than spread disinformation about the situation.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTjTaR748eg]
I would have worked closely with China if I were president. It was obvious the Chinese had a complete grip on the situation once they learned what they were up against.
Trump appears to be giving out some info on what his admin is doing at this time on his live daily briefing.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YIMdUlQeX0]
Complete grip...
China: mass lockdown of villages, towns and cities
US: 10 Popular Spring Break Party Spots
Mass lockdown in China on Jan 21 worked
The people didn't like it but they accepted it.
The US will now be having it's very own Wuhan as we speak.
This is now coming at NYC way faster than it did in Wuhan. I wonder how the US will handle it compared to China in the coming weeks/months.
Fortunately for China, the CCP reacted so quick that they had only one epicenter to deal with.
Unfortunately for the US, I can see 6 Wuhan type epicenters developing. We Americans are in for some major hurt.
NY is on a logarithmic growth curve
Sticking pretty close to the trend line (John Hopkins data. Still working on a publicly consumable version). That will get ugly real fast.
Washington (where I live) has bent the curve. There is still a 14 days lag but fingers crossed. The WA example may provide a model that will work nationwide: massive social distancing and business shutdowns. Still we have a lot going for us: tech workers and relatively low population densities, which may not translate everywhere.
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
That may be the least important item
in my essay.
I won't contest it.
Intelligence agency failures,
Trump administration failures, Obama administration failures, all show the same thing, that our federal government at the highest level is not motivated to protect public health.
In linking to intelligence agency failure up thread I wanted to keep their part of this problem in the discussion. I see the so-called Intelligence Community as public enemy number one. But I share the outrage over Trump's behavior and over the Democrats not having prepared for this possibility before Trump ever thought of becoming President.
To suggest that this possibility was inconceivable is just plain absurd. And we learned immediately after the anthrax attack that our country had then, and went on to expand, illegal biological weapons research projects, which made the attack possible. So for all these years we have contined such weapons research but somehow haven't managed to foresee and prepare for a public health emergency of this kind.
Democrats' failures, MSM failures, too
Great comment, Linda. I add these two things:
Impeachment
That had an effect, wasting time and energy that could otherwise have been spent on the emerging virus threat. As well as making Trump gun-shy and afraid to say anything Democrats could use against him.
Media Sensationalism
That media-generated panic was what Trump was trying to combat when he was downplaying the severity. Not the brightest move, but coming right off impeachment into a hyped-up health emergency made everything worse than it should have been.
Do you think that Trump will be a capable
leader in the coming months? How would you compare him to other world leaders such as Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin in handling this pandemic?
Both these men are now taking full advantage of the complete failure of America to take charge of this pandemic on a global scale. They each are sending dozens of medical teams and hundreds of tons of materiel to afflicted countries throughout the world. Meanwhile, the US is struggling within it's own borders to contain the pandemic and protect it's citizens.
When this is finally over, it will be a different world.
Trump is not a capable leader.
He's marginal at best. And when he's criticized, he's not even that.
Trump "gun-shy" ???
Please. He knew he had a solid firewall with his loyal Rs in the senate. Acquittal was always in the bag. And conmen bullies like Donald are never shy about anything, except maybe telling the truth, and listening to reason and science.
With a solid lock to skate away scot free, he only had to carve out a few hours from golfing at one of his resorts to listen to his science/medical advisers about what was happening in January in China then in SK and get the government and the public prepared. He didn't do that or anything close.
But Donald is only about the bucks, his own primarily, and his re-election. And he didn't want to hear about quarantines and lockdowns as it would effect the economy and the stocks. His public comments in the Jan-Feb-early Mar period reflect his ignorant, pinched attitude about the deadly virus and his total lack of awareness of the seriousness of the pandemic.
It's been an appallingly feeble, uncaring and criminally negligent national response by the Trump admin. The poll numbers for him on handling the crisis would be much lower but for the appallingly feeble, unorganized response by Dems overall, and the PR gift given him by Joe, Nancy and Chuck with their clunky and tepid proposals.
But if Donnie decides to plow ahead recklessly with an Easter unlocking of the lockdown, let's see how the polls and re-elect prospects look with skyrocketing numbers of confirmed cases and deaths coupled with a still plunging economy. I would imagine running on a Plague and Depression platform wouldn't be ideal for his political prospects for November.
I disagree.
Like many bullies, he's an insecure little boy underneath. He lashes out and throws tantrums when criticized. He's desperate for approval and tells people what he thinks they want to hear. Any perceived lack of shyness is sheer bluff.
Democrats are still not preparing for anything
That they are keeping ByeDone as their candidate for now should be depraved indifference because they have a much better candidate ready to go from day one. But as someone mentioned in another essay today the orange blob will not tolerate any criticism of their guy who has mental issues. I posted a comment yesterday from a staff member wondering if it's just Russian trolls spreading the rumor or Bernie supporters. That they continue to believe that Joe just has a stuttering problem is mind boggling. They think his speech yesterday should win the Nobel prize when he barely got the words out in the proper order. "But he's 10 x better than Trump. Hmmm I wonder how many people got hurt when Obama cut $5 billion from SNAP? BTW he's on Twitter lecturing Trump about health care. Sigh.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.