Archive: Opinions

This week government reporting of COVID-19 statistics has been taken away from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  Instead the stats will come from the Trump administration.  So let me get this straight... the government department that specializes in keeping the United States in good health, manned by health experts, doctors, and researchers is not able to adequately inform the public about public health matters, but the White House, which has been made public health a matter of politics rather than science, is more qualified.  Do I have that right?

Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at Michael Caputo released a statement that said, "new faster and complete data system is what our nation needs to defeat the coronavirus and the CDC, an operating division of HHS, will certainly participate in this streamlined all-of-government response. They will simply no longer control it."

Well, hooray for that!  The CDC isn't being entirely disenfranchised.  But critics of the move worry that the stats will be under-reported because of the President's history of poo-pooing the science of managing this pandemic in favor of home-style (and likely fatal) remedies like injecting people with disinfectant.

On Wednesday Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) told reporters on Wednesday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus.  Oklahoma is one of close to half the states in the nation on New York's travel advisory of states from which travelers are required to quarantine for 14 days if they come to New York.  It may not be politically correct to say so, but those are the states that have been unwilling or unable to enforce face masks, social distancing, and all the restrictions that, despite White House wishful thinking, have actually been most successful at keeping the disease at bay.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the total number of coronavirus infections reported in the United States is approaching 3.5 million, 133,000 of which caused deaths.  States that have valued politics over science have the most new infections.  Why is that a surprise to so many people?

If you touch a live wire you get electrocuted.  Experts tell you not to touch it.  Nobody has ever been electrocuted by a wire they didn't touch.

If you walk hunched over your cell phone, you bump into a utility pole or some other hapless person, or wander unwittingly in front of a truck.  Experts recommend stopping to text or do whatever you are doing with your phone, then putting it away when you walk or drive.  That has proven to be an effective strategy,

And you don't have to be a scientist to understand this.  Every time I have touched a live wire I have been electrocuted.  Every single time. It may be anecdotal data, but I'd be shocked if it didn't happen every time in the future that I foolishly try to win a Darwin award.

My point being, that even if you don't have to be a scientist -- if you are too stupid to use common sense, at least getting good information from an authoritative source -- like if you are talking about health... er... doctors might be authoritative -- might convince you to do what you need to do to keep yourself and your loved ones from getting sick.

If the White House has such a great data system that is more efficient than the one the CDC has, why don't they give the CDC a copy of it?  Sure there will be some ramp-up time as data is entered into the new system and operators train on its use.  But that's what the White House staff has to do.  Because Caputo said it is new.  With anything new there is a learning curve.  Except for people who don't believe in learning curves.

So why does it mater who has to train on the system, when the governmental department that actually collects statistics and provides non-politicized data that can actually save lives -- a bunch of scientists who are presumably smart enough to wrap their minds around a new database system -- as long as the right experts are collecting and disseminating the data?

That the President and his staff think that Americans are so stupid that we won't notice that this is politics over science, which is the same as a flagrant disregard for American lives.  In March the President suggested if there were only 100,000 to 200,000 coronavirus deaths it would mean we did a 'very good job' of limiting the virus.

Think about that for a moment.  200,000 people is 18.2 times the population of Lansing.  So, according to Trump, if everyone in Lansing died over 18 times we'd be doing a 'good job'.  So far, at 133,000 deaths we Lansing folk would only have to die 12.1 times to match the national count. And of course the disease isn't even close to being finished, with new infection records being set every day.

Still... good job!

Boy it feels good to hear that!


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