Trump’s American Carnage

President Trump will talk again at the Trump National Convention.  So far, speakers have ignored reality.  Here is a short summary of where the country is based on Trump’s leadership.At least 180,000 Americans died because of Trump’s response to COVID-19. More than 1,000 front-line health care workers have died of COVID-19 according to Lost on the Frontline.  It is an ongoing investigation by The Guardian and KHN to track and memorialize every U.S. health care worker who dies from the Trump virus. The  interactive database is the most comprehensive accounting of U.S. health care workers’ deaths in the country.

Trump has pushed to reduce testing so the number of new cases falls during the Convention. Trump refused to encourage masks or other safety measures.  However, epidemiologists now credit masks and social distancing rules for slowing the spread. Experts say that ignoring Trump and keeping some businesses closed helped slow the outbreak.

Scientists and medical experts have been pushing back against the claims about the treatment. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that Trump’s reckless endorsement of the use of plasma from recovered coronavirus patients is dangerous.  The treatment for COVID-19 remains experimental despite the White House’s authorization. “The results are not conclusive” on the treatment’s effectiveness. Responding to an outcry from medical experts, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn apologized for overstating the life-saving benefits of treating COVID-19 patients with convalescent plasma.

In an update on how the pandemic has affected US children, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) said almost 10% of all COVID-19 patients are children, representing about a half-million confirmed cases. The overall rate of pediatric infection is 583 cases per 100,000 children in the population. Officials confirmed a 21% increase in child cases over 2 weeks since Trump reopened schools.

Trump is finally requiring nursing home to test staff and caregivers. The recent regulation is the first time the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services required testing during the pandemic. Until now, such testing was only “recommended” by federal authorities because the slow turnaround time seriously hampered its usefulness. Now facilities may face financial penalties if they don’t test staff. But more than 60,000 nursing home residents died since March.https://twitter.com/i/status/1298416871369256961