Tag: Trump willing to put American lives at risk to be seen as always right

As coronavirus cases spike, Fauci warns Trump rally attendees that large gatherings are ‘risky’

NOTE: This article is being provided free of charge by The Washington Post.

Washington Post logoAnthony S. Fauci said Friday that it is a “danger” and “risky” for people to be gathering in large groups — whether at a Trump rally or a protest. The nation’s top infectious-disease expert advised on a podcast that if gatherings take place, people should “make sure” to wear a mask. President Trump plans to hold his first rally in months next week in Tulsa.

Meanwhile, across the South and West, coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are on the rise. In Texas, more than 2,100 people in the state were hospitalized with covid-19 as of Friday, according to state data tracked by The Washington Post, and intensive care units are reportedly at 88 percent capacity in the Houston area. Arkansas reported 731 new cases, the largest since the pandemic began. And in North Carolina, cases topped 40,000 after its highest single-day increase.

“We continue to see a decrease in social distancing,” Mecklenburg County, N.C., health director Gibbie Harris said Friday, “and before long we will be back to where we were when we put the stay-at-home order in place.” Continue reading.

Trump’s flimsy attack on vaccine official warning about hydroxychloroquine

Washington Post logo“So the so-called HHS Whistleblower was against HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE. Then why did he make, and sign, an emergency use authorization? … A dumb @60Minutes hit job on a grandstanding Never Trumper!”

— President Trump, in a tweet, May 18, 2020

Trump sniped at “60 Minutes” for airing an extended interview with Rick Bright, a U.S. vaccine official who alleges that the president’s political appointees pressured him to make an untested drug widely available and shuffled him to a new job when he resisted.

But the president left out the crux of Bright’s allegation. In a detailed whistleblower complaint, Bright says that he was sounding the alarm about hydroxychloroquine early, that he was “directed” to sign an emergency application for the drug’s use in hospitals despite his reservations, and that he did it as a compromise with Trump appointees who were pushing to release the drug even more widely.

The Facts

The Food and Drug Administration warns against using hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19 patients outside of hospitals or clinical trials, citing a risk of heart problems. Clinical trial results, academic research and scientific analysis indicate that the danger is a significantly increased risk of death for certain patients. Evidence showing the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine in treating covid-19 has been scant.