Tag: Trump botched COVID-19 response killed over 220000 Americans

The coronavirus pandemic has caused nearly 300,000 more deaths than expected in a typical year

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The coronavirus pandemic has left about 299,000 more people dead in the United States than would be expected in a typical year, two-thirds of them from covid-19 and the rest from other causes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday.

The CDC said the novel coronavirus, which causes covid-19, has taken a disproportionate toll on Latinos and Blacks, as previous analyses have noted. But the CDC also found, surprisingly, that it has struck 25- to 44-year-olds very hard: Their “excess death” rate is up 26.5 percent over previous years, the largest change for any age group.

It is not clear whether that spike is caused by the shift in covid-19 deaths toward younger people between May and August or deaths from other causes, the CDC said.

Trump labels Fauci a ‘disaster’ on campaign call

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President Trump derided Anthony Fauci as a “disaster” and claimed that Americans have tired of the novel coronavirus during a call with campaign staff on Monday.

“People are tired of COVID. Yup, there’s going to be spikes, there’s going to be no spikes, there’s going to be vaccines. With or without vaccines, people are tired of COVID,” Trump said on the private call, according to audio obtained by The Hill. “I have the biggest rallies I have ever had and we have COVID. People are saying whatever, just leave us alone. They’re tired of it.”

Trump then accused Fauci, the top U.S. infectious diseases expert, of providing inconsistent advice about the coronavirus pandemic and claimed baselessly that if he had followed all of Fauci’s advice the United States would have “700,000 to 800,000 deaths right now.” Continue reading.

Trump’s den of dissent: Inside the White House task force as coronavirus surges

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As summer faded into autumn and the novel coronavirus continued to ravage the nation unabated, Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist whose commentary on Fox News led President Trump to recruit him to the White House, consolidated his power over the government’s pandemic response.

Atlas shot down attempts to expand testing. He openly feuded with other doctors on the coronavirus task force and succeeded in largely sidelining them. He advanced fringe theories, such as that social distancing and mask-wearing were meaningless and would not have changed the course of the virus in several hard-hit areas. And he advocated allowing infections to spread naturally among most of the population while protecting the most vulnerable and those in nursing homes until the United States reaches herd immunity, which experts say would cause excess deaths, according to three current and former senior administration officials.

Atlas also cultivated Trump’s affection with his public assertions that the pandemic is nearly over, despite death and infection counts showing otherwise, and his willingness to tell the public that a vaccine could be developed before the Nov. 3 election, despite clear indications of a slower timetable. Continue reading.

Whatever happened to Deborah Birx?

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Deborah Birx is nowhere to be found at the White House these days.

Though she retains the title of coordinator of the White House coronavirus response, Birx has not attended any of President Trump‘s press briefings on the pandemic since he started them anew in late July, nor was she at a recent event to tout the administration’s advances in testing.

Instead, Birx has been on the road, visiting 36 states and 27 different colleges and universities since the end of June to meet with state, local and university leaders to advise on best practices for containing the coronavirus and to gather information on what’s been working in each place. Continue reading.

As pandemic surges and economy stalls, Trump fails to live up to dealmaker image in face of partisan gridlock

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Gridlock in Washington is hardening as the twin crises that have defined 2020 are rapidly worsening, with coronavirus cases setting fresh records and the economy beginning to stall again as millions remain out of work.

Just over two weeks before Election Day, America’s most pressing challenges are being exacerbated by its preexisting political paralysis, with Washington beset by partisan bickering and dysfunction.

Attempts to deliver a stimulus package have faltered in recent days as President Trump’s erratic approach to governing and Democrats’ eagerness to press a political advantage have repeatedly clashed at the negotiating table. The result has been a historic failure of the nation’s political class to mount a response to an approaching catastrophe, according to historians, public health experts, economists and lawmakers of both parties. Continue reading.