We’re fully in the throes of uncontrolled pandemic spread with 41 states red flags regarding cases and percent positive tests. Since hospitalizations - and deaths - lag uncontrolled spread, we’re in a very scary place.
The COVID news isn’t really good on that many fronts. On the good news front, we know more about how to treat the disease once people get hospitalized, so likelihood of death once you’re in the ICU is probably lower than it was back in April.
But the bad news is much more grave: the uncontrolled spread means that we’re utterly failing to control this pandemic.
Thousands more (and perhaps tens or even hundreds of thousands) will die because we aren’t controlling the spread of this virus. We aren’t wearing masks widely, we aren’t contact tracing, and we seem to have given up on trying to get kids in school instead of keeping our bars open.
Despite these warning signs, our government continues to fail us as there seems to be determination on the federal level to make things worse.
What do I mean by this?
It’s incredible that our President - the person who most influences the way that the FDA and the CDC work - still has no clue why testing is important so many months into the pandemic.
You can’t discuss the pandemic without making it political
It really sucks to say that. But we need to be honest with ourselves about this.
Last week, I was a guest on the podcast Bright Spots in Healthcare to discuss COVID. One of other guests (also a friend of mine), Ofole Mgbako, made a point that completely struck me: you literally cannot discuss the pandemic without making it political, because by doing so you ignore the context that’s right in front of us.
I’ve tried to write this newsletter about the SARS-CoV-2 virus in as apolitical a manner as I can because I don’t believe that who you vote for should have an impact on whether you get accurate scientific information or high quality medical care.
I hope that people who disagree with me (both politically and otherwise) are reading what I have to say and continue to engage in a productive dialogue with me.
But Dr. Mgbako is right - you can’t discuss the pandemic without making it political. And the reason for that is because our politicians haven’t been leaders, they’ve been meddlers, micromanagers, and misinforming snake oil salesmen.
The official White House position: slow down the testing and speed up the approvals
Read any account of the pandemic response and the story is the same: Do less testing but approve treatments regardless of whether they have any proof of safety of efficacy.
Let the markets determine if our front line health care workers have sufficient protective equipment.
Slow down the testing, please.
Seriously, who cares if we can test or contact trace.
Call up the NIH and ask them to approve treatments faster. [The NIH doesn’t approve drugs or treatments, but it would be terrible to miss an opportunity just because you didn’t ask].
The stories go on, but frankly it’s exhausting to keep hearing new details about the same mismanaged response.
Shut up and dribble, but for politics instead of basketball players
A few years ago, LeBron James made a few comments about the President that made headlines and led a rebuttal from Laura Ingraham that made even more headlines: Shut up and dribble.
The specifics of what James said are unimportant, but the response from Ingraham is incredibly useful if applied appropriately. Here’s the clip:
Ingraham’s meta-point is something I can get on board with - when you don’t have any idea what you’re talking about, it’s probably better not to get involved.
We would all be better off if some the people in our government, particularly the President (but also some of the members of his task force and his family), would stop meddling in the pandemic response and focus on their area of expertise.
Instead of misleading people about masks increasing cases of COVID, perhaps Trump can just take Laura Ingraham’s advice: shut up and tweet about celebrity gossip.
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