03-05-2020, 02:29 AM
Quote:We've now tallied 26 people with coronavirus who have ties to the Life Care nursing home at the epicenter of the outbreak here.
Eight of them have died.
https://twitter.com/ByMikeBaker/status/1...6471163904
Quote:A few thoughts to close out what I've found to be a pretty jarring day of COVID-19 news.
Why jarring? The growing disconnect between the narrative pushed by the White House and the reality we can see developing around us.
I've tweeted about it already but my mind keeps going back to these comments by Azar claiming the US leads the world in testing, and that there are only 100 cases in the country.
This has disturbed me more than anything else we've heard from the USG.
Here's what gets me:
They know this isn't accurate.
We know this isn't accurate.
They know that we know this isn't accurate.
And they're saying it anyway.
The men running our national response are basically gaslighting us.
And that's so extraordinarily dangerous. Accurate testing and case counts are essential because you can't fight what you can't see.
And transparency about case counts is essential because you can't fight what you *refuse* to see.
The response posture you'd adopt if you think cases are limited to 100 on the West Coast is very different than if you think (as we now must) that there are hundreds or more likely thousands of hidden cases spreading around the country.
And by continuing - even now!! - to minimize the risks, Azar and Pence are simply ensuring a slower and less effective federal response.
This is an unconscionable leadership vacuum as our country heads toward crisis.
To beat back this disease, China locked down half their population and developed incredible/creepy AI contact surveillance tools.
Italy and Japan have closed all schools.
S. Korea has applied innovative nationwide testing.
etc. etc.
We can debate whether some of this is overkill. But what's indisputable is that these countries have taken aggressive, proactive measures to mitigate domestic spread.
While our federal government still pretends the new cases abruptly found this week aren't the tip of an iceberg.
https://twitter.com/JeremyKonyndyk/statu...5070418946
