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| A Covid-19 rapid test facility at Fiumicino Airport in Rome (CNN) |
So much for comparing what the Trump administration has done to Europe.
It turns out that at the end of the day, the entire world is in the same ‘infectious boat’. I have been maintaining all along that the President is getting a bum rap about his response to COVID. Not that it has been all that great. It hasn’t. But I firmly believe that it wouldn’t have mattered that much who was President. The results would be the same.
But that hasn’t stopped the Presidents political opponents – not the least of which is the media from saying exactly that! It is the President! That is who is at fault for where we are with respect to the pandemic.
I realize of course that all the Trump haters are apoplectic just about now - filled with incredulity. How can I not see what is so plainly obvious to them?! But their prejudice is getting in the way of their objectivity. It wouldn’t have mattered that much even had Trump done exactly what France or the UK did. They are in the midst of a huge spike in COVID positivity. Possibly even greater than ours!
As noted that doesn’t mean that Trump’s policies were that great. But other than hearing how inept the Trump administration has been - I have yet to hear what exactly they would have done differently. The one thing that all heath experts agree on is that wearing masks is currently the best known method of protection. And that if everyone would wear them, the positivity rate would be significantly reduced. So the President is blamed for not making that the required national policy - instead of only saying the people SHOUD wear them. The problem is that the President does not have to power to enforce such a rule. As Biden himself admitted when asked if he would do it when he becomes President.
It is also clearly not correct to say that Trump did little to nothing. When America’s top epidemiologist, Dr. Anthony Fauci was asked to agree to that comment by an obviously biased reporter - he retorted that as a member of the President's COVID task force - that was absolutely false.
There was a lot done and he listed much of what that was. He agreed that it wasn’t enough. But added that it was not the administrations fault. Saying as well that there is just so much that can be humanly done in a short amount of time. He also praised the unprecedented speed with which the federal government is going to make vaccines available to the public – although admitting that only a few million doses will be available by the end of the year, not the over 300 million that are needed. That, he said, will likely be available by April – assuming the expected results of the 5 large phase 3 clinical trials currently taking place.
Just to be clear. This has nothing to do with how I feel about the President. He has been the worst possible role model for this pandemic I could ever imagine a leader to be. But that doesn’t matter since the people spreading the disease right now probably could not care less about what the President says or does. They pay little attention to him. That is certainly true of young people that mostly responsible. They tend to be liberal and hate Trump. And surely the Europeans spreading the disease are not his fans either.
I am just about trying to keep it real. Despite the incredulity it is surely breeding among those to my political left who can’t stand the man. (Can’t wait to hear - or more correctly – read all the pushback about why all this isn’t so.)
What is also spiking is COVID hospitalizations and death. And so is pandemic fatigue which is one of the reasons why COVID is spiking.
One of the things that is truly inexplicable to me is how so many of the supposedly bright people among us are saying that they are ignoring the precautions advised by health experts because those experts ultimately don’t know what there are talking about – citing the constant changes in what they tell us to do. The favored example of which if their original claim that masks don’t help - but are now saying masks are the best method of protection.
Instead of erring on the side of caution and doing even more than they suggest, their answer is to do less! If that isn’t the stupidest rationalization for ignoring the best available information about how to protect oneself, I don’t know what is. If you thinK health professionals don’t know enough, you protect yourself more. Not less! Certainly suing the governor for requiring observance of those measures is the wrong thing to do. But that is exactly what is happening. From Homodia:
Three shuls in Rockland County have filed a lawsuit against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s restrictions on houses of worship due to a COVID-19 uptick, alleging an unconstitutional violation of religious and other liberties.
The suit was filed Wednesday evening by attorneys Ronald Coleman and Harmeet Dhillon, on behalf of Cong. Yeshuas Yaakov and Rabbi Moshe Rosner of Monsey; Cong. Oholei Shem D’Nitra and Rabbi Samuel Teitelbaum of Spring Valley; and Cong. Netzach Yisroel and Rabbi Chaim Leibish Rottenberg of Monsey.
Religious liberty? Sure. But as Rabbi Gil Student noted in commenting on this article on his website:
This is important but even more important is stopping the big weddings, shul kiddushes, mask-optional shuls, etc.
What these foolish Shuls are really doing is suing for their right to get sick and die. I cannot imagine anything much more stupid than fighting measures designed to protect their health - and their very lives in some cases.
Nor do I understand the selfishness of taking a chance on exposure under assumption that he vast majority of those that do get infected - recover with little to no negative after-effects and in a great many cases, no symptoms at all! They are oblivious to the reality of inadvertent transmission to others more vulnerable where the dangers of serious illness or death is far greater. That is the pattern taking place all over the country where gatherings are taking place.
I guess that the the best way to recognize these realities is if you have suffered through them yourself. Which explains the following from the Jerusalem Post:
In a sharp and unequivocal rebuke to large sectors of the ultra-Orthodox community, the Grand Rabbi of the Karlin-Stolin Hassidic community in Givat Ze’ev, Rabbi Baruch Meir Yaakov Shochet, has lambasted the failure to comply with health regulations for the COVID-19 [https://www.jpost.com/coronavirus] pandemic.The rabbi, who has been one of the only hassidic grand rabbis to instruct his community to strictly observe coronavirus health instructions since the beginning of the crisis, said that parts of the ultra-Orthodox community were ignoring the “simple” and “foundational” Jewish principle of saving lives, and said he was astonished at such “contempt” for the lives of others.
Other than what seems to be the rare exception of a survivor of COVID like the Grand Rabbi of the Karlin-Stolin - this is pure denial. Which may come at a very high cost. One they may regret having had to pay.