This is just my opinion, but it seems to me that the Trump administration has demonstrated an uncanny ability to do the worst possible thing at the worst possible moment for the worst possible reasons. For example, changing the process for reporting Covid-19 cases during the biggest spike in Covid-19 cases.
Even if we give the Trump administration the benefit of the doubt (stop laughing, it’s just a hypothetical example) and accept that they just want to ‘streamline’ the reporting process, it’s still a phenomenally idiotic point in time to do it. I mean, the CDC has been collecting and reporting hospitalization data for decades. Everybody is familiar with the system, everybody knows what to do, everybody knows the data is unfiltered by the government and pretty reliable. Everybody knows they can use that data as a foundation for planning.
Sure, that system is being challenged by a shocking number of Covid-19 cases. We’re talking about national daily infection rates of more than 50,000 new cases a day. A day, for fuck’s sake. Tens of thousands of cases every day from thousands of health care centers scattered all over the US. The fact that the CDC’s system is handling and publicly reporting all that data shows how stable and robust it is.
But the Trump administration has decided to route that data through a private corporation. A private corporation run by a Trump supporter. A Trump supporter and long-time GOP donor who got the US$10.2 million contract through a no-bid process. A contract that requires health care centers to learn an unfamiliar protocol that includes several additional types of data, some of which isn’t usually collected by some state health agencies. The phrase ‘recipe for disaster’ comes to mind.
The worst possible decision at the worst possible time for the worst possible reasons. Well, I’m assuming the worst possible reasons. It’s safe to assume the Trump administration is acting out of the worst possible reasons, because that so often turns out to be the case. It’s theoretically possible somebody in the administration truly and sincerely believes the shift in data collection is being done to make the process more transparent and more simple. But there are people in the Trump administration who truly and sincerely believe prayer is an effective tool in the fight against gun violence. And teen pregnancy. And climate change. And, I don’t know, forest fires. Halitosis. The outcome of football games.
So yeah, it’s probably safe to assume this plan to shift Covid-19 data collection from a familiar robust system used by the CDC to a new protocol created by a private company owned by a Trump supporter is designed to control what information the public gets. To turn the data into a political tool. To cook the books and make the pandemic seem somewhat less catastrophic than it is. To benefit Trump.
It’s safe to assume everything Trump does is to benefit Trump. Everything.
gregfallis.com 
You do realize that cases does not mean squat. Death rates are going down while cases are going up. This is actually a GOOD thing as the country begins to build herd immunity. But do not let your TDS get in the way of reality.
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Hey Billy. Couple of things. First, cases DO mean a lot. The number of confirmed positive cases indicates the direction of the trend. Hospitalizations lag a week or two behind testing, and deaths lag two to six weeks behind hospitalizations. And, in fact, in the last week we’re seeing deaths gradually increase again. In another couple of weeks, based on the number of cases and hospitalizations, it’ll be even worse.
Second, herd immunity may turn out to be impossible. We’re discovering that Covid survivors can be re-infected. Immunity may only last for a few months. If that’s the case (and we’re still learning how this virus works) then the only way to protect ourselves will be to mitigate the virus (by wearing masks and social distancing and all the stuff you hate) until we can develop a vaccine.
That’s reality. And by reality, I mean actual science.
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My gut-level rage response both to the post and the response above is… I can appreciate that you get readers from varying viewpoints, and that’s a good thing, but the above statement just leaves me… speechless with rage.
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Understandable. It’s a mystery to me why Billy continues to read this blog, but I’m glad he does.
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