I shared with Scottie on his blog a friend who battles COPD responded to my wife that COVID-19 is all hoax. This person who calls the White House incumbent, “my president,” was responding to my wife’s comments that we are playing it safe, wearing masks, socially distancing, minimizing trips to the store, etc. This made me sad, as if she gets COVID-19, she will likely not fare well.
So, I wrote her a brief, heartfelt text wishing her well and closing with be safe. I said with her battles with COPD she needed to be careful. I noted there is a lot of misinformation out there, but to-date 149,000 Americans have died and, sadly, more will. She responded with a thank you and I’ll try. I hope some of my plea and well wishes sank in. There was no mention of politics. Whether she agreed with what I said, she knew I was thinking of her well-being.
An epidemiologist professor and researcher, who was on a George W. Bush pandemic trouble-shooting team, noted mission number one in a pandemic is tell people the truth. The US botched this in 1918 and has botched this in 2020. Between a president, who for some reason, thought it was better politically to naysay the pandemic calling it a hoax as late as February 27, and some caution-to-the-wind governors like in Florida, Georgia and Texas, unsurprisingly, the pandemic has continued. This is not a second wave, as the first wave never went away. What is happening now is not unexpected.
The truth matters. And, just to illustrate this point further, another friend said she was in the doctor’s office last week and she and the nurse spoke hopefully of this COVID-19 thing going away. Another patient said, it will go away on November 4 as it is a democrat hoax. So, I guess those 149,000 people are not really dead.
musingsofanoldfart 
I just watched a truly frightening segment by an NBC reporter showing a coven (I use the word advisedly) of alleged doctors dressed in white coats negating the value of masks, pushing fluoroquinolone as THE cure and all that’s needed to open schools, get people back to work, etc. One of the leaders actually talks about aliens and DNA. Of course, both trump and his brilliant son have touted their wisdom, so they were an Internet sensation until FaceBook shut them down. They are affiliated with the Tea Party Patriots and backed by dark money whose motives are unclear ( all I can think of is they must be in the funeral home business or fluoroquinolone must have addictive qualities…)
Trump is determined to discredit Fauci and make himself the Scientist in Chief. I can’t see how we control this pandemic any time soon with this craziness receiving wide internet exposure and the bully so abusing his pulpit.
Annie, sounds like it is right out of a dystopian novel. It takes a lot of sycophants to perfume this pig, as the old saying goes. Americans are dying, but that does not seem to matter. People need to call these folks on the carpet including the one they are protecting. Keith
It really does sound that way. We need a landslide to get rid of him (my post tomorrow).
Btw: I got the purported magical elixir wrong: it’s hydroxychloroquine.
Annie, I would love to see a landslide win, but Biden winning is all that matters. Keith
I am amazed by the number of people who STILL aren’t taking this pandemic seriously. As of tonight, the death toll in the U.S. is at 152,320, with over 1,200 yesterday alone. How can anyone still believe it’s a democratic hoax??? Oh wait … some still actually believe that Sandy Hook never happened, that those were paid actors, while others still believe the government blew up the World Trade Center with explosives from within, and that no plane hit either the Trade Center or the Pentagon. 🙄 I guess those people weren’t dead, either. Try telling that to their families. I’m quickly losing faith in the human species. Sigh.
Jill, a real leader in the White House would have alerted us to the pandemic risk in January or early February and asked for actions to ready ourselves from Congress, governors, hospitals. I remember the story of the CEO who makes masks in the US, reaching out to the White House in January saying there will be a mask shortage and he could turn on two idled production lines with some funding. Deaf ears heard this plea, which was followed up on a week later to no avail.
A real leader would say “stop the damn hoax crap and conspiracy theories and focus on the problem.” People are dying and you trying to distract them from the truth. But, that would be a real leader who would say this, not someone who cares only about himself.
Keith
We both know we haven’t had a real leader since 20 January 2017. I often think of how different this whole nightmare might be if Obama had still been president when the pandemic hit. I’m betting our number of cases and deaths would be MUCH lower than they are.
True. A long time conservative just died of COVID-19. His co-founder said leaders need to grow up and start dealing with this virus. I agree.
I met a guy the other day who insisted that masks are stupid & that the “experts” say that they’re “not necessary” … I said, where did you see this? He replied, “On Facebook” .. I replied, “oh, of course.” He brought a mask out of his pocket … a paper mask, like the ones you get at Home Depot for doing minor home construction work & he had written on it “Cuomo sucks” & had ripped a hole in the middle of it so he could stick his tongue out of it. He thought he was SO CUTE. & then he wanted my phone number! Of course he did. I laughed & walked away.
And, he wanted your phone number? Really? I would have loved to have seen your reaction. There is an old saying that people can become more attractive to another by what they do or say; the converse is also true.
Keith,
I am taking the liberty of attaching a link to my just-published post, which explains why I feel it’s important to work for not just a Biden win, but as huge a win as possible. I welcome your thoughts, of course.
Annie, thanks. I will check it out. Keith
Annie, well done. Readers, please click on the link to Annie’s post. Keith