Pence Will Control All Coronavirus Messaging From Health Officials

[brooklynite]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — The White House moved on Thursday to tighten control of coronavirus messaging by government health officials and scientists, directing them to coordinate all statements and public appearance with the office of Vice President Mike Pence, according to several officials familiar with the new approach.

President Trump announced Wednesday evening that Mr. Pence would coordinate the government’s response to the public health threat even as he played down the immediate danger from the virus that is spreading rapidly across the globe. Mr. Pence was scheduled to lead a meeting of the government’s coronavirus task force on Thursday.

Officials insist the goal is not to control the content of what subject-matter experts and other officials are saying, but to make sure their efforts are being coordinated, after days of confusion with various administration officials showing up on television.

Mr. Pence said Thursday that he had selected Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the director of the United States effort to combat H.I.V. and AIDS, to serve as the Coronavirus Response Coordinator for the White House, enlisting an experienced scientist and physician to manage the response to the potential spread of the virus.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/us/politics/us-coronavirus-pence.html

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Why does the truth need to be vetted?

[Thomas Hurt]

1. It isn't the truth, its science, the lies of Satan...(spit).....(snark)

and they wonder why we think they are fn stupid.

[lagomorph777]

18. I think we'd all better start praying

...for an asteroid to hit the White House. Nothing less will save us.

[defacto7]

2. That's why we won't listen to them.

There are plenty of international sources. Avoid our government info like the plague. No pun intended.

[LonePirate]

6. International sources will not provide much info about the virus in America.

We will need sources in our government to release this info themselves or leak it to the press.

[defacto7]

16. If they believe it's in their best interest for the health of their country

and the world, they will get it. And I'm convinced as someone who knows squat about it that there are patriots in the field of Epidemiology that will get that info out. No damn dominionist end times'r can stop it.

[RKP5637]

3. Lovely, will just be filled with tRump/Pence lies. n/t

[33taw]

4. State officials can distribute information related to their individual states.

I am grateful to have a Democratic governor in WI. I can’t imagine what bs Scott Walker would say.

[LonePirate]

8. States with Dem governors are our only hope for truth about this pandemic.

[Totally Tunsie]

28. My RI Democratic Senator is working for us in this regard.

Received this e-mail yesterday from Senator Jack Reed:
logo-blue

Dear Ms. XXXXX,

Public health experts recommend preparedness over panic when it comes to the coronavirus. Right now, the coronavirus is mainly overseas, but in our interconnected world, experts predict we will see it spread in the U.S.

Here's what you can do: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that people take cautionary steps such as getting a flu vaccine, regularly washing your hands and taking everyday preventive actions to help stop the spread of germs, stockpiling three days' worth of food and water as you would for any potential disaster, and seeking medical care if you are experiencing flu-like symptoms. More information from the CDC about the coronavirus can be found at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/summary.html.

Here's my concern: I don't think that the President is acting aggressively enough to prepare for the coronavirus. Thankfully, there's still time for him to take the following steps:

•Support upwards of $8 billion in immediate emergency funding for the CDC, state public health agencies, and vaccine research;
•Appoint a scientist or public health professional as the point-person to lead its response;
•Get functioning and accurate testing kits to Rhode Island and other states; and
•Reverse his approval of junk health insurance plans that do not cover coronavirus testing and other needed health services.

I am hopeful that the President will work with Congress in a bipartisan fashion on these steps because potential epidemics, like the coronavirus, affect not only public health but also our economic activity with the rest of the world. Now is the time to prepare rather than wait, and you can be assured I will keep up my efforts to respond to this public health threat.



Jack Reed
United States Senator

[rickyhall]

5. What could go wrong?

[bucolic_frolic]

7. Controlling the message to prevent truth and panic over the idiots in charge

I remember Three Mile Island.

'There is no immediate danger to public health.'

[progree]

9. Achtung! California, HUSH UP!!!!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-update-chinas-outbreak-concerns-ease-as-the-rest-of-the-worlds-grow-more-acute-185122518.html

California is monitoring at least 8,400 people for the coronavirus, CNBC, 2/27/20
... California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday the state is currently monitoring at least 8,400 people for COVID-19, a day after health officials confirmed the first possible community transmission of the coronavirus in a Solano County resident.

... California health officials have 200 testing kits on hand and will be receiving more over the next few days, Newsom said.

“We have just a few hundred testing kits and that’s surveillance testing as well as diagnostic testing. That’s simply inadequate to do justice to the kind of testing that is required to address this issue head on,” he said.

Shh Shh! Everything is going great! Buy stocks! Rebalance your portfolios to 100% equities!

[Wellstone ruled]

10. Blackout!!!!

[Javaman]

11. and THAT is why he was appointed. no. other. reason. nt

[Canoe52]

12. Was Baghdad Bob not available?

[titaniumsalute]

13. That will be pretty tough to do

Figure all individual state Governors, local large municipalities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, NY, Chicago, etc will have their own messaging. The media will just go to them for responses instead of Pence's filtered North Korean-style bullshit propaganda.

[SunSeeker]

14. Well, it's official. Pence was appointed to be Americas's Baghdad Bob of the Covid-19 outbreak.

[maddogesq]

15. How Orwellian of them.

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

[turbinetree]

17. Oh Boy............a "guy" that believes in the rapture............what could possibly go wrong......

let's ask him what he thinks of smoking and tobacco....................not causing cancer................

And he is in charge of the ............................... ..............groupie's...................

[pink-o]

19. We're all gonna die. n/t

[BigmanPigman]

20. I will automatically ignore everything Pence has to say on this subject.

I normally do that but this virus outbreak is definitely something I know he will fuck up and lie about.

[sinkingfeeling]

21. Who wants a country run by an authoritarian?

[Botany]

22. Headline right out of 1984

"Pence Will Control All Coronavirus Messaging From Health Officials."


The important thing isn't the science or the medical community's response but "the messaging."

[EarthFirst]

23. Will they also be detaining doctors and journalists for reporting "unofficial" communications?

[durablend]

24. And retaliation against blue state governors

[sdfernando]

25. ....and there it is.

it was never about managing this outbreak and ensuring the safety and health of U.S. citizens...it is about trying to make this goddam administration look good.

How many are going to die because of orange lardass???

[Ilsa]

26. So, we'll need a "whistleblower" to tell the truth. nt

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

27. I'm sure Pence will come up with an appropriate prayer, ....

... to ensure that only the sinners and nonbelievers are infected.

Thank Dog for our true xtian Pence.

[Totally Tunsie]

29. First, they'll bury the truth.

Then, we'll bury the bodies.

[randr]

30. Guaranteed lie machine

[Bernardo de La Paz]

31. "Nothing to see here. Your dear Leader has it under control. Move along. Go worship now."

[Bernardo de La Paz]

32. We already know how the tRump-RepubliCON regime treats whistleblowers. . . . nt

[riversedge]

33. I do not like this at all. damn.

[Skittles]

34. they're controlling what TRUMP hears

because they know he LOSES IT when he hears the TRUTH

[eilen]

35. Yeah... we are so fucked. (sorry about the language but "effed" is just not enough. nt.