Yuri Gripas/CNP via ZUMA
Let’s review our president’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic:
- He has no plan for mass testing.
- He has already let everyone know he’s unenthusiastic about masks.
- He wants to “liberate” states from stay-at-home orders.
- He wants to open up non-essential businesses as soon as possible.
- He appears to have no particular opinion about social distancing, school closings, or large gatherings.
In other words, he literally has no concrete response to the pandemic at all, aside from closing our borders and passing along damaging fictions about vaccines and folk remedies. Meanwhile, his own director of the CDC—no liberal shill by any stretch—is warning that the second wave of COVID-19 later in the year is likely to be worse than the one we’re going through right now:
Asked about protests against stay-at-home orders and calls on states to be “liberated” from restrictions, Redfield said: “It’s not helpful.” The president himself has tweeted encouragements of such protests, urging followers to “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” and “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!”
Forewarned is forearmed, they say. We have the next six months to build more ICU capacity; stockpile masks and protective gear for doctors and nurses; increase our testing capacity by at least 10x; and prepare a huge PR campaign based on what we learn from the first wave of COVID-19.
Is there any sign that Trump is interested in any of this? Not that I’ve seen.
