Let’s just note at the outset that the national effort to curtail social interactions with an eye toward limiting the novel He put a boundary on that recommendation of 15 days but even on Tuesday insisted that any decision to rescind those recommendations would be “based on hard facts and data.” Continue reading.
Tag: Trump pandemic response
Trump is spreading false hope for a virus cure — and that’s not the only damage
Not so fast. Such success does not usually occur overnight. Widespread testing for drug safety and efficacy is essential. The French result does not mean this drug is ready for use against the coronavirus, nor should a world ridden with anxiety about pandemic illness and death rest its hopes on this unproven possibility. There may be a “wonder” drug at the end of the rainbow, but we are not there yet.
The French results, reported by Dr. Didier Raoult and colleagues in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents on March 20, were from a tiny group of people. Normally in the United States, a set of controlled clinical trials would be required before a drug is approved by the Food and Drug Administration: Phase 1 to determine overall safety and dosage; Phase 2 (about 100 people) to see if effective and safe compared with other compounds; Phase 3 (a large group) to test efficacy and side effects. Continue reading.
Trump’s not a doctor. He’s only playing one on TV.
President Trump has been promoting chloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, as “a game changer” in combating the coronavirus, perhaps in combination with the antibiotic Azithromycin. “As the expression goes, ‘What do we have to lose?’ ” Trump asked during Saturday’s media briefing. The answer is: a lot. Experience teaches that promoting untested drugs in this way is irresponsible patient care, sloppy science and dangerous public policy.
It is tempting to ask, as Trump suggests, whether the rigors of scientific inquiry are too demanding in the midst of a pandemic, a luxury of proof the country can’t afford. But laboratory studies and anecdotal treatment of individuals are notoriously unreliable at judging what truly saves lives. Indeed, just last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, we learned that one suggested combination that worked against SARS — lopinavir-ritonavir — does not help treat, much less cure coronavirus.
For patients infected with the coronavirus, particularly those whose condition is worsening, it is a natural human reaction to try something, anything. Unfortunately, this impulse is misguided. Indeed, these “what do we have to lose?” treatments can be very dangerous to individuals and the public health showing that we do have something to lose. Cancer, the oldest malady, offers useful guidance on covid-19, the youngest disease on Earth. Continue reading.
Criticized For His Coronavirus Response, Trump Returns To The ‘Blame Obama’ Standby
The president has been in office for three years and two months, but still blames his predecessor for his own administration’s lagging response to the coronavirus pandemic.
WASHINGTON — After seven weeks of downplaying the threat of a looming pandemic, President Donald Trump has gone back to a favorite well: blaming his predecessor, Barack Obama.
“We inherited a broken, obsolete system,” Trump said Sunday, the third straight White House briefing in which he has blamed his administration’s slow response to the coronavirus pandemic on Obama, even though Trump has been in office now a full three years and two months.
“We took over an obsolete, broken testing system that wouldn’t have worked for even a small problem, let alone one of the biggest pandemics in history,” Trump said Saturday, a day after claiming: “We inherited a broken, old — frankly, a terrible system.” Continue reading.
Trump calls on U.S. to ‘protect our Asian American community’ hours after referring to ‘Chinese virus’
The chairwoman of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus said Trump’s comments would not “be necessary if he and his supporters had not already endangered so many by spreading this toxic xenophobia.”
President Donald Trump tweeted Monday that people should look out for “our Asian American community.”
In the tweet, the president advised Americans to protect those of Asian descent “in the United States, and all around the world.” He posted the message hours after he once again referred to COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus,” a term he’s used multiple times that some experts say has led to hateful attacks on those of Asian descent.
Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump
It is very important that we totally protect our Asian American community in the United States, and all around the world. They are amazing people, and the spreading of the Virus….
58.6K people are talking about this
Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump
It is very important that we totally protect our Asian American community in the United States, and all around the world. They are amazing people, and the spreading of the Virus….
Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump
….is NOT their fault in any way, shape, or form. They are working closely with us to get rid of it. WE WILL PREVAIL TOGETHER!
31.7K people are talking about this
“They are amazing people, and the spreading of the Virus …is NOT their fault in any way, shape, or form,” he wrote on the platform. “They are working closely with us to get rid of it. WE WILL PREVAIL TOGETHER!” Continue reading..
He Was Wrong On ‘Contained’ Coronavirus, But Larry Kudlow Says Trust Him On Social Distance
Trump’s top economic adviser insists that keeping the “economy going” is the “important point” while COVID-19 cases rise.
President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, finally admitted Monday he was wrong about coronavirus being “contained” a month ago. But now he wants America to trust him on easing social distancing — for the good of the economy.
Kudlow was making the interview rounds apparently preparing the nation for Trump’s reported intention to lift social distancing restrictions in just days as the president desperately seeks a strategy that might boost the economy. Kudlow spoke as conservative British Prime Minister Boris Johnson took the opposite tack and for the first time enacted strict national “lockdown” requirements in a bid to stem the spread of the virus there.
Kudlow said on Feb. 25 that coronavirus in the U.S. was “contained pretty close to airtight.” Now, with at least 41,000 cases and more than 500 deaths from the virus, he told CNBC: “I’ve changed my view.” Continue reading.
Trump signals openings: US not ‘built to be shut down’
President Trump said Monday that his administration would work to allow local economies to “cautiously resume” activities at the appropriate time amid the coronavirus outbreak, adding that the United States “wasn’t built to be shut down.”
“Our public health experts, who are terrific, are studying the variation and the disease across the country, and we will be using data to recommend new protocols to allow local economies to cautiously resume their activity at the appropriate time,” Trump told reporters in the White House briefing room Monday evening.
“Our country wasn’t built to be shut down,” Trump continued. “This is not a country that was built for this.” Continue reading.
‘Going to get millions of people killed’: In all-caps tweet, Trump again undermines expert warnings on coronavirus
Just 10 minutes before midnight on Sunday, President Donald Trump fired off a cryptic all-caps tweet that was interpreted as an alarming signal that—despite warnings from health experts—he could soon lift the federal social distancing guidelines issued by the White House last week to help slow the spread of coronavirus.
“WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF,” Trump tweeted, suggesting the economic impacts of preventative measures could be more harmful than the further spread of coronavirus. “AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!”
Trump proceeded to retweet a number of approving responses from his supporters, including one Twitter user who said the U.S. should “isolate the high risk groups and [let] the rest of us get back to work before it’s all over for everyone.” Continue reading.
Here’s the disturbing Fox News clip that appears to have triggered one of Trump’s most dangerous tweets yet
While the idea of social distancing as the best way to fight coronavirus pandemic has slowly been catching on, President Donald Trump appears to be on course to undermine all that, based on a truly frightening tweet he sent late Sunday night:Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump
WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!
119K people are talking about this
Trump team fiercely debates how long coronavirus restrictions should stay in place
A high-stakes debate is playing out among key figures in President Trump’s orbit over how quickly to loosen restrictions meant to combat the coronavirus.
A number of people around Trump have pushed for prioritizing the economy and sending people back to work as quickly as possible, particularly in less afflicted areas.
But Trump’s own public health officials and some of his allies on Capitol Hill have warned against risking higher infection rates and deaths for the sake of boosting the economy in the short term. Continue reading.