Tag: Trump lying about COVID-19

Dr. Fauci Raises Alarm About Trump’s Lax New CDC Testing Guidelines

Dr. Anthony Fauci raised alarms on Wednesday about a new change to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s new COVID-19 testing guidelines, which seem to discount the risk of asymptomatic transmission of the disease.

The guidelines were changed on Monday and have increasingly drawn concern from the medical community. They now state: “You do not necessarily need a test” even if “you have been in close contact (within 6 feet) of a person with a COVID-19 infection for at least 15 minutes but do not have symptoms.”

But critics argue that asymptomatic transmission of the virus is one of the primary vectors through which it spreads. Discouraging tests for people who have been exposed to the virus but don’t have symptoms could make it much more difficult to keep the spread of the disease under control. When people don’t have symptoms and they’re unaware they’re infected, they may be more likely to spread the disease because they go out in public and interact with other people. Arguably, people who are sick need the tests less, because their symptoms are reason enough to avoid other people. Continue reading.

Facebook’s fact-checkers have ruled claims in Trump ads are false — but no one is telling Facebook’s users

Washington Post logoFact-checkers were unanimous in their assessments when President Trump began claiming in June that Democrat Joe Biden wanted to “defund” police forces. PolitiFactcalled the allegations “false,” as did CheckYourFact. The Associated Press detailed “distortions” in Trump’s claims. FactCheck.org called an ad airing them “deceptive.”Another site, the Dispatch, said there is “nothing currently to support” Trump’s claims.

But these judgments, made by five fact-checking organizations that are part of Facebook’s independent network for policing falsehoods on the platform, were not shared with Facebook’s users. That is because the company specifically exempts politicians from its rules against deception. Ads containing the falsehoods continue to run freely on the platform, without any kind of warning or label.

Enabled by Facebook’s rules, Trump’s reelection campaign has shown versions of the false claim on Facebook at least 22.5 million times, in more than 1,400 ads costing between $350,000 and $553,000, a Washington Post analysis found based on data from Facebook’s Ad Library. The ads, bought by the campaign directly or in a partnership with the Republican National Committee, were targeted at Facebook users mainly in swing states such as Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida and Pennsylvania. Continue reading.

Trump sidesteps grim coronavirus surge to sell a happier message

The president is focused on reopening the economy, while many of his aides see the latest surge of coronavirus cases as media fearmongering.

Top political officials in Florida, Arizona, Texas and numerous other states are grappling with a rapid surge in coronavirus cases, facing the threat of an out-of-control outbreak that washes over their citizens and overwhelms their health care systems.

Top political officials in the White House say it’s business as usual from their perspective.

President Donald Trump and his top aides sought Thursday to minimize the threat of the coronavirus to the public’s health and the U.S. economy despite alarms blaring across two dozen states — including many overseen by Trump-friendly leaders. Continue reading.

Leaked White House Memo Shows Trump Lied About Virus Ebbing

Leaked White House documents show a dramatic increase in coronavirus cases in several cities in middle America, directly contradicting Donald Trump’s comments Monday that the virus is under control.

According to a May 7 coronavirus task force memo obtained by NBC News, cities in Tennessee, Iowa, Texas, and Kentucky saw a spike in coronavirus cases in the seven-day period leading up to that date, with Central City, Kentucky, experiencing a 650 percent increase in that same time frame.

Charlotte, North Carolina, and Kansas City, Missouri, both had increases of 200 percent over the same seven-day period. Continue reading.

Under Trump, coronavirus scientists can speak — as long as they mostly toe the line

Washington Post logoRobert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, issued a candid warning Tuesday in a Washington Post interview: A simultaneous flu and coronavirus outbreak next fall and winter “will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” adding that calls and protests to “liberate” states from stay-at-home orders — as President Trump has tweeted — were “not helpful.”

The next morning, Trump cracked down with a Twitter edict: Redfield had been totally misquoted in a cable news story summarizing the interview, he claimed, and would be putting out a statement shortly.

By Wednesday evening, Redfield appeared at the daily White House briefing — saying he had been accurately quoted after all, while also trying to soften his words as the president glowered next to him. Continue reading.