Five Million Tests? Where Are They, Mister Vice President?
President Donald Trump is well known for flat-out lying to the American public. Indeed, he does it so often it has become a defining trait. But what hasn't gotten a lot of attention in the whole White House coronavirus crisis response fiasco is how much Mike Pence is also lying to us all, on the specific issue of the availability of coronavirus tests. We haven't even gotten close to the point where Pence promised us all we'd be at eleven days ago, in fact -- which shows the true magnitude of his lies. In fact, we're only a little over five percent of the way there (from numbers provided by Mike Pence himself, mind you).
Let's review the full timeline of administration promises on when tests would be made available, to expose these lies. Some of these quotes come from an excellent rundown of the full failure of the Trump administration's testing response, written by the Associated Press today, which is worth reading in full (and where some of these quotes come from). Other quotes below come from three articles run on March 6, an article from March 10, and an article from two days ago; from other various media sources.
Early Days
On New Year's Eve, Chinese scientists informed the World Health Organization about a cluster of 27 pneumonia cases of unknown cause in the industrial megalopolis of Wuhan that they linked to the city's wholesale fish market. Less than two weeks later, the Chinese had sequenced the virus' genetic makeup and shared it with the world.
Within days, German scientists had developed a test that could identify a unique part of the virus' DNA. The WHO quickly adopted the German test, publishing technical guidelines on Jan. 17 and working with private companies to produce testing kits.
As they have done with some past outbreaks, officials at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta decided to develop their own test, focusing on three gene targets distinct from what the WHO used. Over the decades, the headquarters lab had built a track record of being among the first to develop tests for new diseases and quickly making them available for disease tracking.
The CDC published the technical details for its COVID-19 test on Jan. 28, 10 days after the WHO. By then, the virus had already been in the U.S. for at least two weeks.
The 35-year-old man who would become the first American to test positive had arrived in Seattle on Jan. 15, following a trip to Wuhan. After swabs from his nose and throat were flown to the CDC lab, federal officials announced the results Jan. 21.
In an interview on CNBC the following day, the Republican president was asked about the risk to the nation.
"We have it totally under control," he said. "It's one person coming in from China. ... It's going to be just fine."
End of January
On Jan. 30, the day the WHO declared the outbreak a public health emergency, Trump again assured the American people that the virus was "very well under control."
Then he departed for a weekend at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, where he tweeted a photo of himself playing golf at his club in West Palm Beach.
"Getting a little exercise this morning!" the president wrote.
. . .
The following day, the U.S. declared its own emergency. Still, U.S. citizens returning from China who did not have a fever weren't tested for the virus but were encouraged to self-quarantine at home for 14 days.
At that point, the CDC had confirmed just eight cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. The agency amended its testing criteria to include people with fevers who had traveled to China, rather than just Wuhan.
Early February
Four days after the U.S. declared a state of emergency, only 178 patients had been tested and 82 others were listed as "pending," meaning they were awaiting final results, according to CDC data released at the time.
This was also about the time the CDC realized that the tests it was sending out were seriously flawed, either reporting lots of false positives or false negatives.
Med-February
Whatever the reason, by mid-February, only about a half-dozen state and local public health labs had reliable tests. But still, CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield continued to insist his agency had developed "a very accurate test."
"We found that, in some of the states, it didn't work," Redfield said earlier this month. "We figured out why. I don't consider that a fault. I consider that doing quality control. I consider that success."
February 24
On Feb. 24, exasperated officials at the Association of Public Health Laboratories sent a letter to the FDA, basically asking permission for state labs to develop their own tests. Within days, the FDA reversed its previous position and said both public and private labs could conduct testing.
February 29
On Feb. 29, only 472 patients had been tested nationwide, with just 22 cases confirmed, according to CDC data. Of those, nine cases were not related to travel but had spread person-to-person within the U.S.
By comparison, South Korea had its first confirmed case of COVID-19 on Jan. 20, the same day as the U.S. Officials there used a test that focused on the same gene targets as the WHO test, according to the website of a test manufacturer. They then quickly permitted private-sector labs to run the samples. As a result, a nation with less than one-sixth the population of the U.S. mobilized to test more than 20,000 people a day.
So how were we doing, at the same time? You be the judge:
In the critical month of February, as the virus began taking root in the U.S. population, CDC data shows government labs processed 352 COVID-19 tests -- an average of only a dozen per day.
March 1
On Sunday, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told ABC News that the US was "ramping up" testing and said 75,000 tests were available. He added 3,600 people had already been tested.
March 2
The expectation of enough kits for 1 million tests was set Monday by the Food and Drug Administration's commissioner, Stephen Hahn, who predicted that kits for "close to a million" tests would be in place by the end of the week.
Note that "end of the week" line, because this is only the first use of it.
March 5
The White House has said the federal government will not be able to keep its promise to deliver enough coronavirus test kits for 1 million people by the end of the week.
Vice President Mike Pence, who is leading the federal government's coronavirus response, made the acknowledgment Thursday while visiting a factory in Minnesota, the BBC reported.
"We don't have enough tests today to meet what we anticipate will be the demand going forward," he said.
The BBC said that later, speaking in Washington, Pence added: "We still have a ways to go to ensure that tests are available."
The BBC said Pence instead moved the goal to next week, when he predicted kits for 1.2 million people would be available.
. . .
Distribution of about 200 CDC test kits to "select" laboratories began Thursday, with each one having the capacity to test 700 to 800 patients, according to the CDC. They have been produced under emergency legislation that allows them to be used without clearance or approval by the FDA.
March 6
Trump and HHS Secretary Alex Azar visited the CDC lab in Atlanta on March 6, praising the agency's performance and promising 4 million test kits would be available by the end of the following week.
That lofty number didn't match the ability of U.S. labs to process tests, however. Private providers were just then ramping up, while CDC and state health labs processed about 25,200 COVID-19 tests in the following seven days, according to CDC data.
At the same news conference, Trump said he wanted infected passengers to remain on a cruise ship off the West Coast to keep the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. low.
"I like the numbers being where they are," Trump said, shortly before departing Atlanta for another weekend of golf in Florida. "I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault."
This was the same news conference where Trump told perhaps the biggest lie yet during the crisis:
Anybody that wants a test can get a test. That's what the bottom line is.... But as of right now and yesterday, anybody that needs a test -- that's the important thing -- and the tests are all perfect, like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect, right?
Got that? "Anybody that wants a test can get a test." But on the same day, Pence was still contradicting Trump's numbers:
Initially the White House had hoped to have distributed the test kits by the end of the week, but was not able to ramp up to meet that demand. Now, Pence is saying that the capacity to conduct at least 2.1 million tests will be available by next week and a consortium of private testing companies will add still more capacity as time goes by.
So which is it? 2.1 million or 4 million? I'm confused....
March 10
Pence heads the Trump Administration's coronavirus task force. He said the group reached out to governors from 47 states on Monday, and was "able to confirm with them that testing is now available in all state labs in every state in the country."
"Over a million tests have been distributed," Pence said, and "before the end of this week, another 4 million tests will be distributed.".
Furthermore, major medical testing companies such as LabCorp and Quest have also "brought a test forward and are taking that to market effective today," Pence said. He added that, "with the deployment of the commercial labs we literally are going to see a dramatic increase in the availability of testing."
OK, got it. According to Pence, four days later, a million tests had already shipped out, with 4 million more to be delivered by that magical "end of the week." That adds up to a cool five million tests, right?
March 22
"Before the end of the week" would have been before March 13 or 14 (depending on how you count your weeks). So how'd they do on that "five million tests" promise that Pence made? Well, let's check in, over a week after that deadline had passed:
Vice President Mike Pence announced Sunday that about a quarter of a million people have been tested for the coronavirus so far, and many more tests will soon become available.
That total represents a massive increase in testing over the weekend.
Pence said during Sunday's White House briefing that so far, 254,000 U.S. citizens have been tested for the coronavirus at public health labs and given their results, with about 30,000 testing positive.
So, even with over a week of extra time, only a quarter of a million tests have happened, when they had promised five million. In other words, only one-twentieth of what was promised. Or a mere five percent of where Pence promised we'd be by March 13.
Or, to put it another way, they've only managed to deliver one-fourth of what they promised would happen by March 6, which is eighteen days ago.
Oh, but we were reassured on the same day that: "The task force expects the backlog to decrease by the end of the week." So we can all rest assured.
Conclusion
Here's another way of looking at it, from that AP article:
Only in the last few days has the United States finally begun testing more people each day than far smaller South Korea, according to data complied by Johns Hopkins University.
[Dr. Ashish K.] Jha estimates the U.S. should be testing 100,000 to 150,000 people per day -- figures he said should be obtainable given the number of high-quality diagnostic labs in the country.
"We certainly have the capacity. It's just we're not doing it," Jha said Thursday. "We are up to about 40,000 tests per day now -- and so we are moving in the right direction. Still far from where we need to be, but moving."
The article also identifies what went wrong in this enormous debacle:
The Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the CDC, has begun an internal review to assess its own mistakes. But outside observers and federal health officials have pointed to four primary issues that together hampered the national response -- the early decision not to use the test adopted by the World Health Organization, flaws with the more complex test developed by the CDC, government guidelines restricting who could be tested and delays in engaging the private sector to ramp up testing capacity.
Combined with messaging from the White House minimizing the disease, that fueled a lackluster response that missed chances to slow the spread of the virus, they said.
"There were many, many opportunities not to end up where we are," Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the director of the Global Health Institute at Harvard, told the AP. "Basically, they took this as business as usual.... And that's because the messaging from the White House was 'this is not a big deal, this is no worse than the flu.' So that message basically created no sense of urgency within the FDA or the CDC to fix it."
The United States ignored the test kit developed in Germany that the rest of the world was already relying on. We decided to create our own test, which caused a significant delay. Then the test turned out to be seriously flawed and had to be redesigned, causing further delays. Even after all of this was fixed, people who needed tests couldn't get them even through their doctors or hospitals, and the Trump administration was slow to allow the private sector to get involved.
This has all led to where we are now, where tests are being rationed severely. Even people who doctors are certain have COVID-19 are not now being tested because there is still a widespread shortage of tests available. This rationing was going on for a while before the government even admitted it, as the article points out:
As more sick people sought to be tested, many states were forced to limit access because of the flawed CDC test. Accounts began to emerge through social media of people with all the symptoms of COVID-19 who either couldn't get tested or had test results delayed by days or even a week.
"I know of doctor friends of mine who have critically ill patients in the ICU, and we don't know if they have COVID or not because we can't get a test," Jha said last week.
But don't worry -- they'll have plenty of tests by the end of the week. How do I know this? Because Mike Pence told us so! Maybe he should rewrite the "Tomorrow" song from Annie: "The end o' the week / The end o' the week / I love ya / The end o' the week / You're always at least a couple of days aaa-wayyyy!"
The United States is now the epicenter of the worldwide coronavirus outbreak. Even with the shortage of tests, we are reporting over 10,000 new cases a day right now -- far above what even Italy is reporting. And because of the testing shortage, the total number in the U.S. (which has now topped 50,000) is nowhere near accurate. Some experts in the field are stating that the real number of infected Americans could be 10 or even 11 times higher. That would mean we currently have over half a million cases -- which absolutely dwarfs any other country in the world (China has only admitted to around 80,000 cases). Even without considering the "rest of the iceberg that you can't see" amount of unreported cases, America is still poised to officially become the most-infected country on Earth, within the next few days.
Call it "by the end of the week." But unlike Mike Pence's lies about testing availability, that's a promise that will likely come true.
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
You're a real card, Don and, you oughta be dealt with! :)
What I'm trying to say is, thanks for the laughs at a time when they are at a premium ...
Thanks for this article pointing out this administration’s ever changing account of where we stand on battling this illness, CW!
I would only add that it is important to realize that for each person who has been confirmed to have the coronavirus, it generally takes 3 to 5 tests being run before that diagnosis is accepted as being accurate. That is why when the government talks about the numbers of tests that came back positive, it doesn’t mean that if 5000 tests were run and only 100 of those tested were found to have the virus, that doesn’t mean that for 4900 people the tests came back negative. In fact it could be that all 100 of those tested positive were tested five times each before their diagnosis was determined.
This is why I wish they would report on how many patients — not test kits — have been tested for the virus.
I came across this piece in the South China Morning Post recently and it provides some context into who knew what and when …
https://multimedia.scmp.com/infographics/news/china/article/3052721/wuhan-killer/index.html?src=pm
CW: This has all led to where we are now, where tests are being rationed severely. Even people who doctors are certain have COVID-19 are not now being tested because there is still a widespread shortage of tests available. This rationing was going on for a while before the government even admitted it...
I can confirm this from firsthand knowledge. In government run hospitals, people are still not being tested unless they can prove they were in direct contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. They are not testing medical professionals locally since no one can prove they were in direct contact with a person who is confirmed with the disease because they aren't testing any of them.
Multiple members of "my crew" believe we may have already contracted the disease and gotten over it, but since none of us was allowed to be tested because it was acquired from patients who also weren't allowed to be tested, the patients as well as the medical professionals and those associated with them remain uncertain.
In addition to shortages of coronavirus testing that continues unabated to date, there has been a shortage of personal protection equipment and rationing of surgical procedures since I reported this is February:
I tried to warn (in my own small way) for people to ignore what the government was telling you compared to what was actually happening. Allow me again to reiterate what I said then because nothing whatsoever has changed.
As far as opening by Easter, Donald Trump has issued no order to shut anything down so I am unclear as to what it is he believes he can reopen. The governors of the states and mayors are calling the shots without Trump's input. States are going around the federal government and have obtained supplies and test kits on their own.
Maybe Trump is referring to the border when he says he wants to reopen by Easter, but it's an outright fallacy that Trump has "closed the border" anyway. On January 31, 2020, the Trump administration simply put travel restrictions on non-U.S. citizens who had traveled to China within the prior two weeks from entering the United States. The immediate family of U.S. citizens and permanent residents who had traveled to China weren't under any such restrictions whatsoever. It has been estimated that 300,000 people had already traveled to the United States in the previous month of January as no restrictions were placed on Americans going to China and back to America... just warnings. The virus doesn't know Americans from foreigners so there was never a genuine "travel ban" or public health restriction that amounted to much at all.
On January 24, 2020, a week before Trump instituted his so-called "travel ban," the CDC had already confirmed two cases of novel coronavirus from people who had returned to the United States from Wuhan, China. So the so-called "travel ban" was instituted after the disease had already been confirmed to have arrived in the United States.
In addition to there being no real "travel ban" to speak of, the import of goods from China is totally exempt from any travel restrictions, and that includes the people who work on the boats and fly the planes containing the imported goods direct from China. Banning that activity would virtually shut down the economy since we depend on China for things too numerous to list... notably, we depend on China for vital medical supplies.
So as I said, I cannot fathom what Trump believes he is going to reopen by Easter since he's never really closed anything. You can safely ignore whatever you are being told by Don the Con... who could serve the country best if he'd just shut up and stop attempting to spin the virus.
So to recap:
* The virus is not Trump's fault... but he definitely owns the months he spent lying and downplaying its severity with the help of the usual useful idiots like Limbaugh, Fox News, Hannity, etc.
* You cannot con a pandemic... ignore what Don the Con is telling you. He's a pathological liar and shall remain ever thus.
Russ
6
Good point. :)
EM
7
I came across this piece in the South China Morning Post recently and it provides some context into who knew what and when.
Great article. Thanks, EM. This should be required reading.
Just to reiterate, the CDC had already confirmed the presence of the coronavirus in the United States before the Trump administration instituted the so-called "travel ban" I described in [8] above.
The first case had already arrived here in the United States and was confirmed by the CDC on January 21, 2020, via press release. The person had returned to the State of Washington from Wuhan on January 15, 2020.
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p0121-novel-coronavirus-travel-case.htm
Kick -
I read the Albert Camus book "The Plague" ("La Peste") in English, a while back. The message I gleaned from it: all quarantines are only as good as the loopholes they leave.
I've been saying for days that the "China travel ban" was no "China travel ban" because it exempted American citizens. Likewise the "European travel ban."
But the virus doesn't check passports.
Just because they're "good 'Mericans" doesn't mean they aren't also carriers of the disease.
I really need to re-read "The Plague" once again, I'm thinking...
-CW
Just answered yesterday's comments:
http://www.chrisweigant.com/2020/03/23/how-about-a-rent-and-mortgage-holiday/#comment-156403
Check it out.
-CW
FPC,
CW,
"President Trump screwed that pooch so brilliantly that it will become the absolute gold standard of pooch-screwing, for generations to come. Trump could have protected America, but instead he chose to screw the pooch in absolute epic fashion! The facts prove that nobody alive could have screwed that pooch worse! A new record! All praise our Dear Leader!!!"
Yes.. That is what a sufferer of virulent HHPTDS would read.. :D
Actually, it was Trump and Mnuchin who got rolled. They've had to add all kinds of Dem language to the bill, so that Mnuchin can't just dole out that half-trillion bucks to Trump-supporting corporations.
Supported by facts?? OR Supported by HHPTDS....
And who's the one who is preventing remote voting? Mitch McConnell. So those 5 GOP senators who can't now vote are on him, not anyone else.
You honestly believe McConnell could just snap his fingers and pooof... Remote Voting is available??
Actually, plans are in the works to put Senators in containment suits and allow them to vote in person..
Democrats will lose their ability to screw over Americans..
Sorry, but them's the facts.
Show me...
Weren't you telling us a few days ago that Trump was totally right in "the number will soon be down to zero"?
Nope... Never said anything of the sort..
When, during Obama's term, did the stock market react to a pandemic?
Actually, the market is not relevant in this case because we were just coming off the recession so the market had no where to go but up anyways..
But it's interesting..
You are NOW saying that the market going down is because of Trump??
So, when the market goes UP, that's NOT because of Trump???
The market has spoken. It never spoke in such a way for Obama.
SO, that IS what you are saying.. You are saying NOW that the Market is tied to President Trump... insofar as when the market goes up, Trump is doing good..
SO.....
Asian shares jump after Dow sees biggest gain since 1933
https://apnews.com/44594c5f80e50524cd6325c00a2da0bd
Market sees best day since 1933... So I guess you are saying President Trump is doing the best since any POTUS since 1933.. :D
OK I can hang with that.. :D
Upturn? Really? Stocks are now only down 33% from their peak rather than 38%? That's an "upturn" worth celebrating?
Best day since 1933... FACTS don't lie..
And you are now saying that President Trump's competence is tied to the Market.. So when the market is doing good, that means President Trump is doing good. :D
But lets face reality...
The Market reacts to the media a LOT more than it reacts to any President..
And it's the media who is driving their hysterical fear-mongering END OF THE WORLD scenario...
And, of course, you didn't have the media pushing this hysterical fear-mongering under Odumbo.. THAT is why the market's were steady..
When all is said and done, it's the media that is driving all this bullshit..
And, as EVERYONE knows, 98% of the media totally and unequivocally against President Trump...
These are the facts that simple CANNOT be explained away...
But I sure love it when you people try.. :D
Victoria,
Wednesday, February 26th, 2020 at 15:23 UTC]
Yea, you predicted a shortage a month ago of general medical supplies.
Such a shortage STILL hasn't occurred... :D
Your "peeps" (apparently now, yer "crew") only exist in yer mind, honey.... :D
CW,
Since you are in an answering questions mood..
Can you explain why you never did a SINGLE SOLITARY commentary about Obama and his incompetence in handling the Swine Flu pandemic???
Just curious.. :D
So, ya'all are TRYING to fix the blame..
While President Trump is fixing the problem.. :D
I mean, let's face reality, people..
The ***ONLY*** reason this current pandemic is so much "worse" than Odumbo and his Swine Flu pandemic incompetence is because ya'all hate President Trump...
It's really that simple...
It all boils down to Democrats' Trump/America hate...
That's it.. That's all this is...
CW,
That (official) number is above 55,000 now.
So, that means around 1500 people will die from covid 19..
And that's a bad thing to be sure..
But it doesn't COMPARE to the 12,269 Americans who died under Odumbo's incompetence in the 2009 pandemic..
And where was ONE SINGLE COMMENTARY about that???
Why the hysteria and fear mongering about the 1500 that, IN THEORY, will die when you totally IGNORED the 12,269 that DID die under Odumbo's and his totally incompetent response..
There is ONLY one answer that fits the facts..
You just hate President Trump and will use ANY excuse to beat him down, regardless of any factual culpability or (lack of) capability....
Hay... If you come up with an alternate theory that fits ALL the facts....
"I am all ears.."
-Ross Perot
But until you can, the facts stand as they are...
Even DEMOCRATS acknowledge how badly they got their asses kicked in the PR wars..
In a letter to his colleagues, Schumer remarked, “Democrats are ready to give our unanimous consent to speed up the consideration of the bill and get the job done.“ That means that if there are no objections from Republicans, the Senate could clear the bill without a formal roll call vote. Parliamentarily, that is the fastest way to move something on the floor.
A senior GOP source told Fox News contributor and Townhall.com editor Guy Benson that the move was a face-saving exercise by Schumer, and that he was trying to "take credit" for a GOP bill that he filibustered for "small ball" alterations. Democrats, the source said, couldn't drag the situation out much longer; economic conditions have worsened dramatically, and President Trump's approval rating has risen.
McConnell said the Senate will meet at noon on Wednesday, but did not set a time for a vote. By rule, the procedural vote to begin debate on the coronavirus package would happen at 1 p.m. ET, unless the Senate scraps that vote?.
“Democrats are finally taking ‘yes’ for an answer," McConnell said in his remarks on the Senate floor early Wednesday morning. "Help is on the way.”
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-senate-strike-deal-on-historic-2t-coronavirus-relief-bill-but-house-support-remains-uncertain
But now it's going to be the Democrat House that fraks things all up..
What *IS* it about Democrats and their blind intent to screw over Americans...???
President Trump's Job Approval Rating Up to 49%
https://news.gallup.com/poll/298313/president-trump-job-approval-rating.aspx?utm_source=twitterbutton&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=sharing
Oh SNAP!!!
THAT's just gotta hurt!!! :D
Ya'all yell and scream and stamp your feet..
And, meanwhile, President Trump is getting the job done and Americans love him for it.. :D
Gallup: Trump job approval soars 12 net points to 49-45, the best net approval of his entire presidency.
His approval by party:
Republicans 92 (+1)
Independents 43 (+8)
Democrats 13 (+6)
60% of Americans approve of his handling of coronavirus against 38% who do not.
-Josh Jordan
SIXTY %!! of Americans approve of President Trump's handling of this pandemic crisis...
So, no matter how ya'all wanna slice it..
Democrats are LOSING.... :D
Coronavirus may have infected half of UK population — Oxford study
New epidemiological model suggests the vast majority of people suffer little or no illness
Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour.
https://www.ft.com/content/5ff6469a-6dd8-11ea-89df-41bea055720b?segmentId=b385c2ad-87ed-d8ff-aaec-0f8435cd42d9
The new coronavirus may already have infected far more people in the UK than scientists had previously estimated — perhaps as much as half the population — according to modelling by researchers at the University of Oxford.
If the results are confirmed, they imply that fewer than one in a thousand of those infected with Covid-19 become ill enough to need hospital treatment, said Sunetra Gupta, professor of theoretical epidemiology, who led the study. The vast majority develop very mild symptoms or none at all.
https://www.ft.com/content/5ff6469a-6dd8-11ea-89df-41bea055720b?segmentId=b385c2ad-87ed-d8ff-aaec-0f8435cd42d9
Like I said..
That's why ya'all use the term "infected" because it sounds scary.. And inducing fear is the goal..
And when all is said and done and Easter rolls around and ya'all have a NEW shiny you are so happy to use and beat President Trump over the head with..
We'll come to find out that President Trump's awesome leadership saved American lives.. Less than half that died under Odumbo's watch will have died under President Trump's leadership...
And THEN ya'all's story will be, "Well!!! President Trump had NOTHING to do with it!!!"
:eyeroll:
Ya'all are as predictable as the sunrise...
All of the blame and NONE of the credit...
That is what ya'all are all about vis a vis President Trump and the job he is doing as President..
Which is kinda funny, because ya'all predicted ALL SORTS of disasters if President Trump was elected POTUS..
And ***THEY WERE ALL WRONG***!!!!!!
So, you'll forgive me if I don't rush out and place bets based on ya'all's predictions..
Coronavirus may have infected half of UK population — Oxford study
New epidemiological model suggests the vast majority of people suffer little or no illnes
The new coronavirus may already have infected far more people in the UK than scientists had previously estimated — perhaps as much as half the population — according to modelling by researchers at the University of Oxford.
If the results are confirmed, they imply that fewer than one in a thousand of those infected with Covid-19 become ill enough to need hospital treatment, said Sunetra Gupta, professor of theoretical epidemiology, who led the study. The vast majority develop very mild symptoms or none at all.
https://www.ft.com/content/5ff6469a-6dd8-11ea-89df-41bea055720b?segmentId=b385c2ad-87ed-d8ff-aaec-0f8435cd42d9
Like I said..
That's why ya'all use the term "infected" because it sounds scary.. And inducing fear is the goal..
And when all is said and done and Easter rolls around and ya'all have a NEW shiny you are so happy to use and beat President Trump over the head with..
We'll come to find out that President Trump's awesome leadership saved American lives.. Less than half that died under Odumbo's watch will have died under President Trump's leadership...
And THEN ya'all's story will be, "Well!!! President Trump had NOTHING to do with it!!!"
:eyeroll:
Ya'all are as predictable as the sunrise...
All of the blame and NONE of the credit...
That is what ya'all are all about vis a vis President Trump and the job he is doing as President..
Which is kinda funny, because ya'all predicted ALL SORTS of disasters if President Trump was elected POTUS..
And ***THEY WERE ALL WRONG***!!!!!!
So, you'll forgive me if I don't rush out and place bets based on ya'all's predictions..
mmmm K? :D
http://sjfm.us/pics/CovidBill.jpg
The small minds and Americans hating agenda of the Democrat Party..
Facts don't lie...
Nancy Pelosi Isn’t Going To Let A Global Pandemic Go To Waste
The coronavirus relief bill congressional Democrats are pushing has all the hallmarks of Obama’s 2009 stimulus package: welfare funding disguised as relief.
So it turns out the real reason congressional Democrats blocked a Senate coronavirus relief bill on Sunday wasn’t because they were concerned it favored corporations over individuals or because they wanted more direct aid to families and small businesses. It was because they want to use this crisis as pretext for passing a bunch of Democratic policies that have nothing to do with the pandemic.
On Monday, right around the time Senate Democrats blocked a $2 trillion coronavirus spending bill for the second time in as many days, we found out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, fresh from a weeklong vacation, has her own bill, a 1,400-page monstrosity chock full of mandates, regulations, and nonsensical federal programs that leftists would enact if they were king for a day.
Many of the provisions in Pelosi’s bill have no discernable relation to the coronavirus pandemic, much less helping families and small businesses facing economic ruin. There are sections mandating “risk-limiting audits” of election results, early voting, same-day voter registration, mandatory reporting for federal agencies on their use of minority-owned banks, new rules for the retirement plans of community newspapers, and even a section requiring airlines to provide passengers information about greenhouse gas emissions from flights they took. The list goes on, like a parody of Democratic governance.
But it’s not a parody, it’s an old Democratic tactic—especially for Pelosi. Remember President Obama’s $830 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009? It was supposed to fund those now-infamous “shovel-ready” infrastructure projects but in the end mostly went to federal welfare programs like Medicaid, food stamps, and extended unemployment insurance.
https://thefederalist.com/2020/03/24/nancy-pelosi-isnt-going-to-let-a-global-pandemic-go-to-waste/
It's all about the Democrat Agenda..
As far as Dumbocrats are concerned, Americans can go frak themselves.. Especially Trump supporters...
Dems Have Other Priorities Than Struggling Americans
Seen in that light, it’s hard not to think Democrats have been angling to pull this same trick since the coronavirus crisis broke. Over the weekend, The Hill reported on a conference call held Thursday with hundreds of Democratic lawmakers that laid out a sweeping wish list of provisions to include the relief package. Majority Whip James Clyburn reportedly said, “This is a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.”
And there’s nothing like a pandemic-caused economic crash to justify giving unions unprecedented collective bargaining power, increasing fuel-emission standards for airlines, and expanding wind and solar tax credits.
"Frak dying Americans... It's our Agenda that is most important..."
-The Dumbocrat Party
BUG HITS ROYALS Prince Charles, 71, tests positive for coronavirus
Well he should be happy...
Climate change isn't gonna kill 'im.. :D
Isn't it amazing??
PRINCES Charles, 71, has tested positive for coronavirus, Clarence House said today.
The future king had been displaying mild symptoms but remains in "good health".
Every time someone speaks about actually having covid 19, it's always about how mild it is and how it's no big thang...
Funny, eh?? :^/
BREAKING: Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak just banned the use of anti-malaria drugs for someone who has the China Virus.
This comes after people have seen success following drug testing.
This is ridiculous.
Get that??
President Trump mentions these drugs have shown promise in treating Covid-19..
Democrat Governor promptly issues an order to reduce their use.. :eyeroll:
Can't have ANYTHING good coming from President Trump, eh??
MORON...
So much for a SCIENCE-BASED approach, eh morons????
:eyeroll:
It's too late for the human race..
http://sjfm.us/pics/dinos.jpg
Dinosaurs have reclaimed what was theirs.. :D
Once again...
Pelosi warms to Senate coronavirus bill after failed bid to add pet project funding
Pelosi indicates potential support for Senate’s new coronavirus bill, as details emerge
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pelosi-indicates-potential-support-for-senates-new-coronavirus-bill
Pelosi gets biatch-slapped and has her ass handed to her... :D
Hmmmmmm
Dumbocrats impeached President Trump for allegedly withholding aid to Ukraine...
Pelosi withheld aid to Americans..
Democrats see nothing wrong here...
:eyeroll:
Market is up..
Dow soars after $2T coronavirus aid deal
The package gives aid to American workers, families and small businesses
https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/us-stocks-march-25-2020
So, I spose ya'all will be thanking President Trump right now, eh?? :D
Democrats losing the PR war...
Biden tempers attacks on Trump as coronavirus crisis builds
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-tempers-attacks-on-trump-as-coronavirus-crisis-builds
So, they are gonna try something new..
Actually being CIVIL to President..
Let's see how long it lasts...
Watching DS9 TRIALS AND TRIBBLE-LATIONS for the upteenth time..
Just realized..
Chief O'Brien should have recognized the great Lt Commander Montgomery Scott and not confused him with some "security officer"..
I mean, O'Brien is an engineer and Scotty is the most famous engineer in Star Fleet...
They dropped the ball on that one..
Further, by the laws of Temporal Mechanics, Darvin should have realized his plan had failed the second he planted the tribble bomb...
If it had succeeded, he would have instantly disappeared as a successful plan would NOT have resulted in a trip for him back in time to get even with a Kirk that was already blowed up..
"Time travel gives me nose-bleeds"
Commander Geordi LaForge
Hey, Michale! You've gotta love how Governor Cuomo is handling things in New York, eh?
Hey, Michale! You've gotta love how Governor Cuomo is handling things in New York, eh?
Do I???
They are calling New York "Little Italy"....
But I am not surprised. Obama was incompetent with Swine Flu..
It must be a Democrat thing..
Scotty is the most famous engineer after all that time in the shadows of the great Captain Kirk and legendary Mr. Spock?
That's comparing apples and eskimos... Or in this case, Captains and Engineers..
Janeway would be unlikely to know who Commander Trip Tucker was...
Just as B'alanna Torres wouldn't give a targ's ass who Captain Archer was..
He's not a famous as the guy in that movie that invented the warp drive, whatever his name was. :D
You heathen!!! :D
They are calling New York "Little Italy"....
Yeah, well, Trump will be the luckiest son-of-a-gun alive if the rest of your country doesn't soon look like Italy.
Too bad, though, that president Trump didn't take some lessons from the Obama administration or y'all might actually be back at work by Easter! :)
But, it is good to the stock markets on a bit of a rise, every now and again.
Good thing those Covid pressers out of the WH moved to after 4pm!
so good to see!
Yeah, well, Trump will be the luckiest son-of-a-gun alive if the rest of your country doesn't soon look like Italy.
Yea.. That is one possibility..
Another one is that he is a good leader..
APPARENTLY, a much better leader than Obama or Cuomo... :D
Too bad, though, that president Trump didn't take some lessons from the Obama administration or y'all might actually be back at work by Easter! :)
Actually, President Trump DID take a lesson from Obama..
On what NOT to do.. Obama's incompetence caused 12,269 Americans to lose their lives...
Obama showed President Trump what NOT to do..
We'll see ...
We'll see ...
Yes.. We will..
Just like we "saw" with the Russia Collusion delusion..
Just like we "saw" with the faux impeachment coup..
How many times does President Trump... AND America and Americans, have to win before ya'all realize how wrong ya'all are??
How many times???
"At least one more, Miss Swann"
-Orlando Bloom, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
Michale,
You keep talking about the incompetence of the Obama administration with respect to its response to the H1N1 pandemic.
What are you basing this on? There is no critical analysis or reporting that I can find to support this claim ...
BREAKING: Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak just banned the use of anti-malaria drugs for someone who has the China Virus.
This comes after people have seen success following drug testing.
This is ridiculous.
The “China Virus”? Getting your news from WhitePowerMonthly or TheBigotBugle again, I see.
The governor banned it from being sold to patients not suffering from malaria. Why? Because it can kill you if you take even slightly too much! And mouth-breathers who trust Trump are killing themselves with the two drugs! The governor’s announcement came a day after a man died and his wife is in critical condition after self medicating with these drugs!
Trump claimed that the FDA had approved these drugs for combating the coronavirus, but the FDA has stated that it has not approved any drug for combating the coronavirus. Trump is gonna kill off his supporters and lose the election because he is too stupid to trust the medical experts and too narcissistic to say that others know more than he does!
What are you basing this on? There is no critical analysis or reporting that I can find to support this claim ...
Twelve Thousand Two Hundred & Sixty Nine Americans dead...
Seems pretty critical to me..
The “China Virus”? Getting your news from WhitePowerMonthly or TheBigotBugle again, I see.
It IS the China virus...
Why don't you call a spade a spade..
Because it can kill you if you take even slightly too much! And mouth-breathers who trust Trump are killing themselves with the two drugs!
Of course, that is bullshit because the "mouth breathers" AKA VOTERS didn't take what President Trump said...
Trump claimed that the FDA had approved these drugs for combating the coronavirus, but the FDA has stated that it has not approved any drug for combating the coronavirus.
Facts to support??
None???
Of course not.. You NEVER have any facts..
It doesn't matter what he is basing it on. It has no bearing over what Trump does now.
Other than proving President Trump is a better leader.. yer right..
But it DOES have ALL the bearing over ya'all's hypocrisy..
So it would seem to be based on a need for pointless comparisons. :D
It certainly IS a pointless comparison..
When you IGNORE the actual point..
From the NYPost: Trump urges Americans to take ‘game changing’ drug cocktail to fight coronavirus.
President Trump continued Saturday to tout a promising, but still unproven cocktail of drugs should be used “immediately” in the battle to contain COVID-19.
“HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine. The FDA has moved mountains – Thank You!,” Trump tweeted Saturday morning. “Hopefully they will BOTH … be put in use IMMEDIATELY. PEOPLE ARE DYING, MOVE FAST, and GOD BLESS EVERYONE!”
Trump claimed during a White House briefing last week that the Food and Drug Administration had approved using chloroquine to treat coronavirus.
In a post-briefing statement, the FDA said chloroquine has not been approved by the FDA to treat coronavirus. As of right now, "there are no FDA-approved therapeutics or drugs to treat, cure or prevent COVID-19."
Other than proving President Trump is a better leader.. yer right..
But it DOES have ALL the bearing over ya'all's hypocrisy..
This is what is so confusing...you say that Obama’s incompetence cost 12,000 Americans their lives and we didn’t raise a fuss then. So it makes no sense that you think that we should remain silent and allow Trump’s incompetence to kill even a single American.
And obviously you think that a president is accountable for any deaths that occur during their presidency or you wouldn’t claim the swine flu deaths were all Obama’s fault. Not my position, but to each his own!
Or is it that you just make shit up trying to distract from the fucktard’s mishandling of this epidemic using this “whataboutism” that doesn’t matter seeing how it happened in the past.
We are focused on what is happening now, but you could not stand it when I agreed with you that we did not speak up enough about the president’s reaction to the swine flu. Why? I agreed with you! But that was NOT how you want us to react to your stupid comparison! You need us to protest against your claims — not agree with you because that justifies the importance of speaking out to prevent Trump from repeating Obama’s mistake.
If 12,000 died when we were silent, then why are you wanting us to remain silent now? You just want us to let Trump kill Americans!
New column up … ahem.
Mike
15
Yea, you predicted a shortage a month ago of general medical supplies.
I didn't "predict" a thing, rube; that's simply your projection of your own regular repetitive modus operandi onto any other poster who doesn't worship at the altar of President Pathological Con Artist like you do. What I did was report a known impending shortage of medical supplies and beginning of surgical rationing that was happening in real time simultaneously while Your Orange Worship was lying every single day to Americans and his useful idiots were spewing right-wing propaganda and whining hysterically if anyone deigned to report the actual facts on the ground.
Such a shortage STILL hasn't occurred... :D
Said the guy bent over and gleefully accepting Trump's "shortage" every single day.
Please continue with the regular displays of your rank ignorance and reeking stupidity; it pleases me immensely to watch the flailing obedience of a rube to the criminal con artist who couldn't care less about anyone not named Trump.
Russ
59
This is what is so confusing...you say that Obama’s incompetence cost 12,000 Americans their lives and we didn’t raise a fuss then. So it makes no sense that you think that we should remain silent and allow Trump’s incompetence to kill even a single American.
I know, right!? And when we post about known shortages of medical supplies and rationing of medical care in order to clue in our fellow Americans about actual conditions on the ground versus the lying bullshit they're being told, Mike whines hysterically and insists it isn't true and praises Donald Trump while Americans are dying. Mike is rooting on President Pinocchio while we report the facts. It's obvious that Mike wants Americans to stay misinformed and therefore putting themselves at risk of dying because of Trump's lying to them about all manner of things.
And obviously you think that a president is accountable for any deaths that occur during their presidency or you wouldn’t claim the swine flu deaths were all Obama’s fault. Not my position, but to each his own!
Yes, sir... great point, and Mike has truly set the metric over and over ad nauseam, hasn't he? It would be a shame if Trump blew past that metric that Mike has set for incompetence, wouldn't you say?
Or is it that you just make shit up trying to distract from the fucktard’s mishandling of this epidemic using this “whataboutism” that doesn’t matter seeing how it happened in the past.
I like this "fucktard" theory of yours.
We are focused on what is happening now, but you could not stand it when I agreed with you that we did not speak up enough about the president’s reaction to the swine flu. Why? I agreed with you! But that was NOT how you want us to react to your stupid comparison! You need us to protest against your claims — not agree with you because that justifies the importance of speaking out to prevent Trump from repeating Obama’s mistake.
^^^^^ This! ^^^^^
If 12,000 died when we were silent, then why are you wanting us to remain silent now? You just want us to let Trump kill Americans!
Isn't Mike actively helping Trump to kill people by singing the praises of President Con Artist while others try to warn Americans? That makes Mike one of those effing Trump loving/America haters!
Russ
You better be taking care of yourself. :)