White House Declares Flawless Defeat Of COVID-19: 'Live With It'

This is not American exceptionalism.

Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested, on live TV no less, that the coronavirus would eventually go away on its own, perhaps returning to its home planet after growing disgusted with the ways of man. This isn't how highly infectious diseases work, however, and now infection rates are skyrocketing.

It's a big mess, but the president claims everything's just fine. Cases are up only because we're testing so many people. He won't let go of that bone, like the mad dog he is.

New China Virus Cases up (because of massive testing), deaths are down, “low and steady”. The Fake News Media shoul… https: //t.co/GCn9SLaPlh

— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1593988473.0 

South Carolina, Texas, Arizona, Nevada and California have reported a record number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations. Florida is a catastrophe with a total caseload of more than 200,000. Even Republicans are sounding alarms. Miami Mayor Francis X. Suarez admitted that the "growth is exponential at this point."

"There's no doubt that when we reopened, people started socializing as if the virus didn't exist," he told ABC News. "It's extremely worrisome."

Wow, who could have predicted this -- other than medical experts and anyone with the sense to listen to them?

The Trump administration doesn't think we should dwell in the past, unless we can grossly blame China for all our mistakes. Trump's advisers have crafted a winning coronavirus message for the future: “Learn to live with it."

From NBC News :

Therapeutic drugs will be showcased as a key component for doing that and the White House will increasinglyemphasize the relatively low riskmost Americans have of dying from the virus, officials said.

Sweet Christ.

Just last week, Joe Biden accused Trump of "waving the white flag" surrendering to COVID-19 ... like a coward .

"Today we're facing a serious threat and we have to meet it. We have to meet it as one country. The president gives no direction, and he pits us against one another. We can't continue like this: half recovery and half getting worse."

I'm hardly a master campaign strategist like Brad Parscale, but I don't think it's a winning move to openly be the big loser pants that your political opponent says you are. Fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly, I guess.

Biden's campaign will likely heckle the fuck out of Trump's Mary Sunshine act. There is nothing “low risk" about COVID-19. According to a  New York Times  article this weekend, 239 experts believe the virus is airborne, which is horrifying and has “significant consequences."

Masks may be needed indoors, even in socially-distant settings. Health care workers may need N95 masks that filter out even the smallest respiratory droplets as they care for coronavirus patients.

Ventilation systems in schools, nursing homes, residences and businesses may need to minimize recirculating air and add powerful new filters. Ultraviolet lights may be needed to kill viral particles floating in tiny droplets indoors.

The major flaw in Trump's “live through this" plan is he has no real plan for “living" with the coronavirus. He's just ignoring it. He still won't even do the bare minimum -- like wear a mask publicly or stop holding super spreader Klan rallies where everyone's cramped together like racist sardines.

Frank Drebin - Nothing to See Here    www.youtube.com 

Governing as a living Frank Drebin meme won't work when most voters are rightly scared shitless of COVID-19. (That number has only grown over the past few weeks, thanks to Trump's superb stewardship of this crisis.) People of all ages and backgrounds are dying. Sunday, Tony-nominated actor Nick Cordero died after a grueling battle with the disease. He was diagnosed in March, spent weeks in intensive care, lost more than 60 pounds, had his right leg amputated due to complications, and was hoping for a double-lung transplant. He was just 41.

Trump's also chosen to given up and redirect his energies to statue preservation around the time we're learning that some COVID-19 survivors are suffering from debilitating, longterm illnesses.

In addition to emerging reports of damage to lungs, kidneys and hearts, covid-19 patients are complaining of ongoing crushing fatigue, muscle pain, cognitive problems and other symptoms that anyone with ME/CFS is very familiar with.

"I'm 69 days after my first symptoms and still feeling fatigued," wrote Canadian comedian Wayne Jones on Twitter, saying he has tested positive for the new coronavirus. "I also have sore eyes, and weakness and headaches that come and go. All signs point to post-viral fatigue."

Writer Dani Oliver detailed in a Twitter thread the "severe respiratory, cardiovascular & neurological symptoms" she's suffered for more than three months:

"Extreme tachycardia. My heart rate was once 160 while I was sleeping. Chest pain, like someone's sitting on your sternum. Back and rib pain like someone's taken a baseball bat to your torso. Fatigue like you've never felt before in your life. Fatigue like your body is shutting off. Fatigue so bad that it would often make me cry because I thought it might mean I was dying. GI problems, diarrhea to severe acid reflux. I had diarrhea every day for two+ months. Unbearable nausea. Also: Inexplicable rashes. For me, little broken blood vessels all over my body. For many of us, a constant shortness of breath that doctors can't find an explanation for."

This is what Trump wants Americans to risk “living with," when a responsible president would mandate a nationwide quarantine until there's a vaccine. Unfortunately, we won't have a responsible president until January 20, 2021.

[ NBC News ]

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