Monday, December 21, 2020

First Corona virus death in U.S. February 29, 2020

Cases of a new virus from Wuhan, China, were being reported all over the world, and the few in the U.S. involved foreign travel. These were cases, not fatalities. 

On January 29, 2020 the President's Coronavirus Task Force it was established.

On January 30 the President closed tourism coming from China.

 On February 26, 2020, U.S. vice president Mike Pence was named to chair the task force, and Deborah Birx was named the response coordinator.

Then a man died in a Washington state on February 29.  President Trump had already closed travel from China at the end of January.  Ohio by March 3 had yet not had ANY confirmed cases, let alone deaths, when Governor DeWine began cancelling events. At this time, DeBlasio, Pelosi and Cuoma were still inviting tourists to come to their states/cities. 

On March 4, when many states had yet not had one case, the HHS announced the intent to purchase approximately 500 million N95 respirators and Secretary Azar announced that HHS was transferring $35 million to the CDC to help state and local jurisdictions that have been impacted most by the coronavirus.

 On March 6 the President signed an $8.3 billion bill providing $7.76 billion to federal, state, and local agencies for combating the coronavirus, and authorizing an additional $500 million in waivers for Medicare telehealth restrictions.

On March 11, the WHO announced it was a global pandemic, and the President in a speech to the nation said,  “We are cutting massive amounts of red tape to make antiviral therapies available in record time.  These treatments will significantly reduce the impact and reach of the virus. . . and he also said:

“The vast majority of Americans: The risk is very, very low.  Young and healthy people can expect to recover fully and quickly if they should get the virus.  The highest risk is for elderly population with underlying health conditions.  The elderly population must be very, very careful.”  Today, December 21, that is still the case.  Even with thousands of deaths, the fatality rate from this virus is about .3% with the elderly at higher risk, and young people suffering higher than usual deaths from non-Covid reasons. 

On March 13, the president also declared an emergency for COVID-19 under Section 201 and 301 of the National Emergencies Act. The National Emergencies Act (NEA) generally authorizes the president nearly unlimited discretion to declare a national emergency. President Trump Declares State of Emergency for COVID-19 (ncsl.org)

On April 29, Operation Warp Speed announced—a public private partnership initiated by the U.S. government to facilitate and accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.

My question for Democrats; if the President had extended the national lockdown to mandatory after the two weeks at Governors’ discretion, how would you or the national media have accepted the order from the president you’d been trying to impeach, whom you called a Nazi, whom you called illegitimate because he won the Electoral College and not the popular vote?  Also which has been more effective in your opinion, Operation Warp Speed or the lockdowns?

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