Vox: We don't have a president, or a plan
You know how Trump first praised China's COVID-19 response, then pretty much blew off January through March and failed to prepare, then blamed China?
Well, he is doing it again. While the federal government could have developed a national plan with consistent standards for re-opening and use the time bought during the shutdown, Trump did nothing. Worse, the Trump administration has provided conflicting directions such as attacking Georgia for opening and California for not opening even though California is more at risk. On top of that, the Trump administration has tried to prevent information or guidance from being disclosed such as blocking the CDC's publication of guidelines for re-opening while also trying to hide the number of deaths and cases of COVID-19. Finally, Trump is undercutting what small efforts his administration has taken actively encouraging people to violate shutdowns.
In other words, Trump is making both the pandemic and economic impact of the pandemic worse. Of course, the next question is what lies or distractions will Trump use to hide his inaction since March?
https://www.vox.com/2020/5/13/21255221/trump-coronavirus-plan-covid-reopening-lockdown-liberate
But this is also the truth: Reopening without a way to control the coronavirus will be lethal to both human life and economic growth, as an escalating death toll will force states back into lockdown. “We can’t just let the virus go,” Osterholm says. “Lots of people will die and it’ll shut down our health system, not just for Covid patients, but for anyone with a health problem.” “What we need,” Osterholm continues, “is a plan.”
It is shocking. More than 60 days after President Trump declared a national emergency over the novel coronavirus, there is still no clear national plan for what comes next. “The lockdown is not meant to be a permanent state of affairs; it’s intended to be a giant pause button that buys you time to get ready for the next phase,” Jeremy Konyndyk, of the Center for Global Development think tank, says.
But the Trump administration wasted the pause. Over the past two months, the US should have built the testing, contact tracing, and quarantine infrastructure necessary to safely end lockdown and transition back to normalcy — as many of our peer countries did. Instead, Trump has substituted showmanship for action, playing the president on TV but refusing to do the actual job. He has both dominated the airwaves and abdicated his duties. As a result, America’s progress against the coronavirus has stalled, even as the lockdown has driven the economy into crisis.
= new reply since forum marked as read
