Social distancing and self-imposed (and city-imposed) isolation and quarantines may be the only sure-fire way to stop the spread of the coronavirus, as we’ve seen those policies work recently in Italy and China.
But if President Donald Trump has his way, the United States may not fully commit to social distancing in the same way as other countries around the globe amid this COVID-19 pandemic. Judging from Trump’s own tweets and words at press conferences over the last 48 hours, America may return to “normal” life much, much sooner than we all expected.
Hey, it’s not just us seeing the writing on the wall. All of Twitter (besides the sheep who baa, “fake news! fake news!”) is seeing it, too, and everyone is flabbergasted.
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The Donald’s apparent growing impatience with the United States (and its economy) effectively being placed on lockdown first surfaced in an early morning tweet on Sunday when the President typed out, in ALL CAPS, the following message:
“WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!”
Hmmm… the end of that 15-day period is coming up this week, of course, and that tweet alone now has health officials and administration insiders concerned that a “back to normal” order could rapidly spread the disease nationwide, according to a new report out in POLITICO.
Still, Trump seems to be doubling down on at least openly pondering the end of social distancing. On Monday afternoon, he held a press conference with Vice President Mike Pence and members of the coronavirus task force, once again floating multiple lines to reporters that suggest his growing impatience with America’s stalled economy and locked-down labor force.
For one, he appeared to compare coronavirus deaths to automobile accidents, noting that driving a car is risky, and yet we don’t shut cars down… or something:
Trump is describing this period as a great "period of learning," suggesting we can take some sort of lesson from this and quickly lift social restrictions.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 23, 2020
Ummm… OK. That’s a false equivalency for many reasons, but a logical fallacy like that is sort of par for the course in this administration, isn’t it?
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More concerning, though, is Trump’s clear disagreement with doctors and medical experts advocating for a continued shutdown with more stringent social distancing. When asked about working with medical experts at Monday afternoon’s press conference, the Prez fired back:
Trump continues to scoff at expert medical advice, wrongly saying doctors would want a shutdown for "years." He says, "You can't do that with a country – especially the #1 economy anywhere in the world, by far…you can't do that. It causes bigger problems than the original."
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 23, 2020
Pressed on whether any doctors on his team have endorsed easing the guidelines fast, Trump says "not endorsed," but they all talked together, and "I think they're okay with it, and I'm okay with it." (Again, Fauci is not at this briefing.)
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 23, 2020
Yikes! Does that sound like the kind of informed, mature, measured decision to be made after receiving sound medical advice from a team of experts and professionals?!
The virus itself is already scary enough — and it hasn’t even hit the US nearly as hard yet as we’ve seen it land in places like China, Iran, and Italy. To think of our own government potentially going against sound medical advice and rushing to get back to “normal” is just… ugh…
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Believe us, we want to be back to normal and rid of social distancing and self-quarantine measures as much as anybody! But if it comes needlessly at the expense of the health (and lives) of thousands of Americans, that’s no good! Just saying!!
BTW, you can catch up on the entire COVID-19 briefing and press conference by re-watching the livestream of it right here:
Seriously, Perezcious readers, how worried are you about the possibility of the government preemptively ending social distancing and self-isolation?
Do U think things should be getting back to normal so soon, either now or after another week or two, even at the cost of SO MANY lives? Or are you open to social distancing for another few months, if need be?
Sound OFF with your take on the whole thing down in the comments (below)…
[Image via WENN/Instar]
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