Let me exemplify the harm in giving away Covid tests

[JohnnyRingo]

How many died waiting for those test kits?

I went to the emergency room early in 2020 because I had an irregular heart beat. I was short of breath as well (I always am) so they locked me in a grim quarantine wing until the Covid test results got back from Columbus in "a few days to a week". It was very depressing being locked in a negative air room. Nurses walking the halls wearing what looked like hair dryers on their heads. Meanwhile, I'm thumping 180 beats per minute and no heart doctor would see me.

If they had the tests we now have they could have checked in minutes, but there was a shortage. Now I see why.

Fortunately a smart nurse decided I lacked the symptoms and couldn't be infected so she worked to get me out the next day and they started working on my heart,. I might have stroked out for lack of a test if not for here

Traitor.

[noahbeck]

1. Exemplary situation

You are quite relatable here because when I faced that situation during covid, they literally treat me the same way as you.

[niyad]

6. Welcome to our DU family.

[KS Toronado]

13. Yes welcome to DU

Sure hope this Covid test story hurts him bad at the ballot box, his foreign employer was more
important to him than his fellow citizens who he relies on for votes.

[Lovie777]

2. My opinion...................

shithole administration sold COVID medicines and equipment and supplies to the states and probably to other countries for profit.

[FalloutShelter]

3. OMG how horrific.

So sorry that happened to you.
This absolutely breaks my brain. Donald Trump is a TRAITOR and the entire Rethug party has allowed him to operate a government in exile for the last four years.
They are ALL traitors.

And Woodward saved this for a book?!? When he should have taken it directly to a microphone instead of waiting for his fucking check to clear!

How is this not absolutely disqualifying?

[Cherrycheeks]

15. Exactly..and

Many of these so called media reporters are writing books and doing podcasts ( many of who I refuse to click on) because they knew a lot of this info about this and other things that were going on .

These women who they are reporting on now I remember their stories back then and I always wondered why they weren't reporting on his many evil doings about this and other issues.

Another thing about the women thing, I recall Lewendowski push or shove Katy Tur but I have yet to here her name in the reporting.

Why don't the media show all of the fights that occurred during the first campaign, why don't they stress how everyone goes to jail around Trump but somehow he is innocent has he calls himself.

[Walleye]

4. I remember Donald didn't like the testing, because positive tests made him "look bad"

[yardwork]

8. I remember Trump saying "Don't test. We don't want to see numbers."

Trump lied that COVID didn't exist while he and his cronies made money off it. People believed his lies and died. Even those of us who knew he was lying suffered because of his lies and his grifting.

I can't believe that anybody supports him.

[Walleye]

14. I was thinking about Hydroxychloroquine

I wonder who bought a ton of that and found they couldn’t sell it. Jared? Remember when he came to the podium and said it would be a game changer. Jesus Christ I can’t believe how many people this man killed.

[Farmer-Rick]

20. Remember how that dewormer was being sold as a cure to COVID

I tried getting some for my sheep and the price of ivermectin had skyrocketed.

Trump was pushing and selling hydroxychloroquine from the Whitehouse during COVID. It was his fake cures of choice. He made like 65 references to it directly from the presidential bully pulpit and well over 10 references to it in tweets.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7685699/

Shouldn't we be able to sue him for false advertisement? He promoted fake cures over 75 times in the middle of thousands of Americans dying everyday from COVID. I wonder how much money he made off of pushing that snake oil?

His cult followers were dying from COVID and would deny it was COVID or claim they didn't want any medical assistance except for hydroxychloroquine. There are video clips out in the dead's own words.

And this is the monster the filthy rich oligarchy wants to put back in the Whitehouse. I guess they are still just as inhumane as when the average person was required to call them Lord.

[SWBTATTReg]

28. And this prick wouldn't let the people on a cruise ship off on the West Coast, because of fears that they had COVID.

And of course this was baloney, they could have and did handle the folks when they finally let the cruise ship dock, and let the passengers off.

And this is our f***ing president at the time, donF***INGtrump. The most worthless person on the face of the planet.

May he rot. Slowly.

[Walleye]

30. Apparently, Trump doesn't just hate Americans, he hates all people

[FSogol]

5. That was the period before they had quick test kits. These were testing machines that Trumpy gave away.

Lots of people died because there was a shortage of those machines.

[More_Cowbell]

21. Yes - he gave Putin testing MACHINES, not tests

Hospitals desperately needed these machines, which gave results in 5 minutes. Putin was using them to screen his visitors.

Even NPR, which has the terminology correct in its story, used "tests" in its headline:

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/08/nx-s1-5146501/trump-putin-covid-tests

Drives me crazy.

[JohnnyRingo]

40. That must be why I was going to.....

...have to wait five days or so for the tests to come back from Columbus.
The hospital should have had one, or at least Youngstown.

[samplegirl]

43. I remember that so

well! Maybe that's why I still fear Covid!
What a horrible thing to have to experience!
It still haunts me!

My neighbor telling me just use the hydrochloric Quinn if you get it!

[JohnnyRingo]

47. Yeah, I wouldn't take your neighbor's advice...

...on curing a headache, the blues, or a ham.
They don't share an entire brain between them.

[yardwork]

7. Trump is a traitor.

I'm so sorry that happened to you.

My mother progressed into advanced dementia during the COVID years. Several times I was with her at the hospital after falls or when she was having panic attacks that could have been heart attacks. I remember the negative air rooms, the fear, sitting for hours in ED waiting rooms until I was cleared to see her, etc.

[JohnnyRingo]

41. They didn't tell me I would be isolated.

After five hours in the ER, and an AFIB heart beating away, they finally came to me and said they were moving me to a room.
They rolled me to the fifth floor and stopped at a room. The transport guy said he can't go in with me and I'd have to walk in. I was thinking it was nice I had a private room, but then I noticed the big window unit pumping air out.

I had a big window facing the hall and I could see people dressed in space suits moving about. That's when I realized where I was. I was lucky I didn't have a heart attack right there. My heart doctor face timed me on my phone to say he'd see me when I got out. An astute nurse came in and checked me out. She pointed out I didn't have any symptoms except my COPD. She pulled strings and moved me to a less stressful room and had me out of there by morning.

Things actually got much worse from there and I didn't get home for another four months, including a two week coma. I'm better now though, and there wasn't much to do in 2020 anyway.

[surfered]

9. Putin's puppet!

[TheBlackAdder]

10. Thousands dying in nursing homes weekly, hundreds of first responders dying weekly. Give tests to Pooty.

[twodogsbarking]

11. And Trump said "people are dying who have never died before".

Was he, well, bragging?

[orleans]

12. was it testing machines or test kits? this cbs article says machines and then quotes woodward saying test kits. ugh.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-putin-covid-test-machine-bob-woodward-book-war/

[ShazzieB]

18. What the heck is a "testing machine"?

I don't remember ever hearing of testing machines for covid. I swear this is the first time I've heard that phrase. That makes me suspect that it's an error.

I definitely remember testing KITS not being available.

[More_Cowbell]

22. Abbott machines. Here's the quote from the book

So you can find stories talking about them:

"secretly sent Putin a bunch of Abbott Point of Care Covid test machines for his personal use"

[ShazzieB]

23. Thanks.

I definitely don't remember hearing of those before now!

[orleans]

32. just found this little machine

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-delivering-new-covid-19-testing-technologies-meet-us-demand

and here is what the other poster mentioned:
https://www.globalpointofcare.abbott/us/en/product-details/id-now-covid-19-us.html

[More_Cowbell]

38. Oh, me neither!

I'm guessing mostly healthcare workers knew about them.

[orleans]

31. they mentioned this on stephanie miller this morning & were using the word "machines"

and referencing when people were standing/waiting in long lines to get their covid tests

i'm thinking there must've been some sort of test machine used in these places

and maybe at hospitals? i don't really know

[Ol Janx Spirit]

16. And what is even worse

is that there is probably zero chance these tests or machines were even used by anyone. Putin is (rightfully in this case) way too paranoid to just take something coming from America or the American government on face value. He would know that it would be a perfect opportunity for spying or for an assassination attempt. None of this ever got within 100 miles of Putin would be my guess. In the case of machines they may have just disassembled them and learned how to make their own version. It is really hard to imagine them just accepting anything from the American government--even directly from Trump whom there is no way they actually trust--and just using it on their president. I think this is really just another example of the "deal maker" getting completely taken advantage of by the KGB agent..... Thank you Donald for willingly revealing your technology to us--your mortal enemy. Good boy. Now go tell the American people how much you love me....

[ShazzieB]

24. Someone upthread is saying that Pootie used the machines to test his *visitors* for covid.

That I can believe. We know he went to great lengths to avoid infection, like making people he was meeting with sit at the other end of that ridiculously long table.

Of course, that doesn't mean that what TSF did was even in the same universe as okay. What a weasel!

No, wait, weasels are kind of cute. Trump is more like a wolverine. A rabid wolverine!

[intrepidity]

27. Agreed. Which makes me wonder how the topic came up.

Did Putin *ask* for them, or did Donald offer them up?

[Walleye]

34. He probably went around bragging about how curried favor with Putin with these tests. Woodward

Talks to all the people who know about these things. And they eventually give him the info. A good reporter knows how to draw out of a person.

[Solly Mack]

17. :(

[samplegirl]

44. I was so sad I couldn't even

think. Then having to stand outside a nursing home to visit him!

I don't know why Trump is alive!

[Solly Mack]

46. I remember you telling me about it at the time. My heart broke for the both of you.

[Joinfortmill]

19. Glad you survived that. Traitor is right.

[Hekate]

25. I'm so glad you survived. I remember seeing my allergist post-quarantine, & he said 3 docs died at the clinic

They were his friends.

I remember so many heinous things Trump did about Covid. Held super-spreader rallies, directly killing people who worshipped him and at least one who thought he was a friend (Herman Caine) . Sold US emergency supplies to China. Made American governors compete for scarce supplies like it was an effing TV show. Had his minions go to airports to collect deliveries off the tarmac, whisking them away to the gods knew where — forcing state agencies to order supplies be sent in “plain brown wrappers. “ Put Jared in charge.

People remember bleach and horse wormer. People remember Dr. Fauci getting his life threatened. People blamed Dr. “Scarf Lady” for her public humiliation, after a lifetime in public service, but that was just Trump going out of his way to make a woman crawl — I could see that, so why couldn’t everyone here?

I remember that Barack Obama left behind a beautifully prepared plan for the next pandemic, all printed up and distributed to various departments, and Trump didn’t just ignore it — he had the physical copies destroyed.

Just one more little thing: at one point a shipment of ventilators came in, and because of their scarcity, they got rationed to the 50 states. Remember how Jared and the Marmalade Shitgibbon pondered how they were going to punish blue states? California, pop. 40 million, got two. Two.

Forgive me — I am not trying to hijack your thread. But from time to time I need to remind myself just how sprawling this mass murder was, lest I myself forget everything but the bleach and horse wormer.

Be well, Johnny and all my DU friends, and remember.

[druidity33]

35. This should be an OP. nt.

[Hekate]

36. I may do that -- I seriously believe we need to make sure none of this goes down the memory hole.

[boston bean]

26. Not just tests. But the machines.

[brewens]

29. I thought I heard them called test machines once. Made me think it wasn't the same as the test kits I got for free.

Do we know? If it was some of the equipment used to run the tests that would be way worse, I would think.

[nolabear]

33. You're right. They were the machines used before home tests.

In other words, those used in hospitals and at drive up test stations. Even more vital in the early days. This is per NYT.

[vapor2]

37. Someone really needs to investigate trump's actions or inactions

during covid. He was 100% negligent and wish the truth would come out on how much he sold us out

[meadowlander]

42. If you look at the per capita death rates in the US versus countries with a more competent response,

it's easy to see that at least 800,000 people died who didn't have to. Why that number isn't hung around Trump's neck every single time he sticks it out of Mar a Lago is a mystery to me.

[LudwigPastorius]

39. Trump wasn't just giving away test kits to Putin.

He gave him (then) state-of-the-art ID Now™ molecular test machines made by Abbott Laboratories.

Don't know what they cost back then, if you could even find them. But, a new, in the box 1.0 machine is now going for 1,500 bucks on Ebay.

Abbott ID Now

[samplegirl]

45. Damn!!!

He killed millions of people!

[Demsrule86]

48. I had the same experience...went into AFIB in july of 22...eventually had a valve

replacement...my cardio assumed it was covid and I was put on eliquis and Metroprolol. I was still having bad issues and it was discovered I had a genetic issue wit my aortic valve. It was in the tests but the cardio assuming it was Covid never checked...46 days in the hospital before I was strong enough for surgery and two additional surgeries because of damage due to the wait...feeling better but I will never be 100%.

[JohnnyRingo]

49. I hate Metroprolol

now I'm on Amiodarone three times a week. After a relapse early this year (I missed the eclipse!) it's been stable for quite a while.

And if the heart doesn't kill you paying for Eliquis will. Still, I'll do anything to avoid a stroke.
I finally joined with the social worker at dialysis to get them for free from Bristol Myer Squibb. They have to help poor people in order to be covered by Medicare.

One month: