After the official word from the Trump Administrations Coronvirus Task Force today, I feel it is time to have a REAL convo about what is happening.
For some, this is going to be depressing because of the cold reality of what is about to happen in our country. Others will have a response to this post from a political perspective instead of a HUMAN perspective. I mean this regardless of party.
I do not represent either political party, but I am a human. At least most of the time. I will be transparent with you. I voted for Donald Trump. I do not think he has been a good president. In fact, I think he has been a bad one. No one is all bad and no one is all good.
I can assure you, I make errors in judgment every day. I make big and small mistakes all the time. I am not bragging, I am being real.
However, when I make mistakes, people’s lives are not on the line.
It is a totally different scenario when you are elected President of the United States. You frequently have to make life and death decisions. For instance, go after a leader of a terrorist group can have collateral damage and can endanger U.S. soldiers.
With the coronavirus, the same situation exists. Decisions that Trump and his administration make dealing with the pandemic are impacting the lives of every U.S. citizen.
The chart below is an unfortunate example of this. The chart was presented by Trump and Dr. Deborah Birx today at their daily news briefing. This is their own representation of data they have been analyzing.
The chart shows the best and worst case scenarios of deaths in our country due to the virus. The numbers are staggering and far, far from being a hoax.
The worst case number of deaths is projected at 1,500,000 to 2,200,000 if we do nothing from this point forward. If we intervene with locking down public interaction across the country at the same time, then the BEST CASE scenario is projected at 100,000 to 240,000 deaths. Let me reiterate that is the BEST CASE.
Are you ready for that? I am not.
And if the best case is between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths, how many more are going to need to be receiving treatment in hospitals? Worse yet, how many will need medicare in the worst case scenario? It is staggering and we are not prepared for either scenario.
The next chart below from the Financial Times shows the daily growth of the number of people who have been infected by the virus. It shows the data from a large number of countries from around the world. Unfortunately, it shows that the growth in our country is far worse than any other country. And it is not even close. We double the growth of Spain, the next closest to us.
The reason our growth has been so meteoric and so much worse than any other country is because of the delay we had, and still have, in responding appropriately to defeat the virus soundly. And one of the reason for the delay is directly related to Trump and his leadership.
He downplayed the spread and impact of the virus. In fact, he called it a hoax. If you have not heard it, check out the video below to see his initial responses.
Another reason is that there has been a fire hose of bad, misleading and intentionally partisan information delivered to the American public. The video below shows just one example of that. To be clear, it was not just Fox News, but since they have a large audience, their impact is probably the largest of any.
Our focus right now has to be mitigating the growth of the virus across the country. That is going to take a NATIONAL and COORDINATED effort. We need to throw aside petty politics and direct that energy to productive, collaborative and consistent efforts to slow down and eradicate the growth. Unless we do that, we are in big trouble.
Yes, our President needs to lead a national effort. So does the Congress, the Administration, Governors, Mayors, and all local leaders.
Bill Gates published his thoughts about how address this situation in the Washington Post.
There’s no question the United States missed the opportunity to get ahead of the novel coronavirus. But the window for making important decisions hasn’t closed. The choices we and our leaders make now will have an enormous impact on how soon case numbers start to go down, how long the economy remains shut down and how many Americans will have to bury a loved one because of covid-19.
Bill Gates, Washington Post 4-1-2020
If true, Gates gives highlights that there is hope to make a difference moving forward. And while it is easy to point at what others are not doing, we first have to look in the mirror and honestly assess whether we are doing all we can, as individuals, to stop the growth.
It starts with me. And you. One by one. We are the ones who can stop it.
It will take us all from top to bottom to take responsibility and to be accountable. Trump is not the only person in a position of leadership. We all are!
Let’s get to work!
***Updated 4-2-20
Here is a county by county map of when and where people were asked to stay within 2 miles of their home. Unlike other major countries, China, Italy, Spain, Great Britain, the U.S. has not instituted a stay-at-home order. That is one of the key reason our growth is more than double of any other country. You can read more about it in the New York Times article.
Click to see a timeline of what our country knew about Coronavirus as it was unfolding.
***Update #2 4-2-20
Just read an article that uncovers the fact that U.S. companies were selling masks to foreign countries in the middle of the epidemic. Millions and millions. Read here.
Interested in reading more? Here are a few of my other Coronavirus-related posts
YOU CAN’T TOUCH THIS – IT’S QUARAN-TIME
WE HAVE GONE CORONAL
THIS IS WAR
MY ENCOUNTER WITH THE CORONAVIRUS
A BEAUTIFUL EVENING AT UTAH LAKE
YOU ARE POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS
FLYING VIDEO TAKE OFF
A SUNDAY MORNING ESCAPE
The Umenum 
2 thoughts on “CORONA COLD, HARD REALITY”