This is the 7th piece in my series of “A Changing Country”
Each of us chooses to get our news from certain outlets only. Of course that’s your prerogative, but you may not get the whole story. The following is meant to inform anyone who isn’t aware of the whole story.
They say that a crisis of any kind will bring out the best and worst in people. The COVID pandemic is no exception. In the beginning, we trusted our elected leaders to get us through this public health crisis, but then we saw the goalpost to flatten the curve move from 15 to 30 days, then two, four and six months.
As the declared lockdowns and mandated stay-at-home orders ruined our communities economically, they’ve destroyed us mentally, emotionally, socially and psychologically. Suicides, domestic violence as well as drug and alcohol addiction and overdoses have skyrocketed.
However, over time, we’ve begun to see the hypocrisy of our elected leaders and news outlets. Some of us have dared to question the science behind their decisions. Instead of answers, they wagged their fingers at those of us who failed to adhere to the dictatorial mandates. While the orders continued into the spring and summer, the truth was coming into view. Kids on spring break and Easter Sunday church goers were scolded, but protesting and rioting was encouraged. They might as well have said, “Shut up and put your mask on! First Amendment for me, but not for thee.”
Yes, COVID has tested American patience, self-discipline and resolve, but it has also tested American leadership. Both have failed. In a National Review article on June 19, Jim Geraghty so eloquently wrote, “The moment called for Abraham Lincoln, and instead we got the gubernatorial equivalent of South Park’s Eric Cartman bellowing ‘Respect my authority!’”
While President Trump and other Republican leaders have been excoriated over how they’ve handled COVID, Democratic leaders are not blameless. The following is a timeline of comments and actions from leaders on the left. This is just a sampling;
1. September 24, 2019 to February 5, 2020: The Democrats were up to their eyeballs with impeachment. Perhaps if they weren’t so obsessed with that, they may have seen the pandemic sooner.
2. January 28th: Ron Klain, former Biden chief of staff, opposed a travel ban a few days before it was announced, calling it “premature.”
3. January 30th: Biden confidant and coronavirus adviser Zeke Emanuel told CNBC viewers to “take a very big breath, slow down, and stop panicking and being hysterical.” The virus will “go down as spring comes up.”
4. January 31st: The day President Trump issued a China travel ban, Biden decried the ban as “hysterical xenophobia and fear-mongering.” Campaigning the next day, Mr. Biden seemed to attack the ban again, saying, “Disease has no borders.”
5. February 6th: Irwin Redlener, Biden coronavirus adviser, wrote an op-ed saying that a global pandemic was “not very likely” and predicted the chances of “getting a severe, potentially lethal form of the Wuhan virus is negligible.”
6. February 7th: New York City Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot said, “We’re telling New Yorkers, go about your lives, take the subway, go out, enjoy life.”
7. February 11th: Mr. Klain again played down the likelihood that COVID would become “a serious epidemic.” “The evidence suggests it’s probably not that,” he said. Two days later, Mr. Klain tweeted, “We don’t have a COVID-19 epidemic in the US but we are starting to see a fear epidemic.”
8. February 20th: Dr. Emanuel said in an interview that there’d been “an overreaction,” and suggested “warm weather is going to come and, just like with the flu, the coronavirus is going to go down.”
9. February 24th: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged tourists in San Francisco to “come to Chinatown.”
10. February 27th: Mr. Klain echoed Speaker Pelosi saying people should not be dissuaded by “needless fears about coronavirus.” He added that everyone “should tonight go down to Chinatown in their city and buy dinner or go shopping.”
11. February 29th: With news of the first U.S. coronavirus death, Dr. Emanuel told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that “running out and getting a mask is not going to help.”
12. March 2nd: Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) New York said, “We have the best health care system on the planet right here in New York. So, when you’re saying, what happened in other countries versus will happen here, we don’t even think it’s going to be as bad as it was in other countries.”
13. March 10th: Mayor Bill de Blasio(D) New York City, said, “If you’re under 50 and you’re healthy, which is most New Yorkers, there’s very little threat here. This disease, even if you were to get it, basically acts like a common cold or flu.”
14. March 10th: Mitchell Katz, president and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals said, “We have to accept that unless a vaccine is rapidly developed, large numbers of people will get infected. The good thing is greater than 99 percent will recover without harm. Once people recover they will have immunity. The immunity will protect the herd.”
15. March 12: Biden coronavirus adviser Lisa Monaco went on CNN and played down its importance.
16. April 6th: Mayor Lori Lightfoot(D) Chicago defended a haircut she received over the weekend while not wearing a mask despite her March 20th stay-at-home orders. She has been quoted saying, ” … getting your roots done is not essential,” and, “I’m the public face of this city. I’m on national media and I’m out in the public eye.”
17. May 24th: Governor Ralph Northam(D) Virginia posed for selfies on the beach without a mask. Two days earlier he signed an executive order requiring masks to be worn indoors. He became infected with the virus
18. May 28: An unarmed black man, George Floyd, was killed by police during an arrest. In the days and weeks that followed, protests erupted across the country – and understandably so. Unfortunately, violent protests, riots and looting also followed. However, instead of punishing the ones who caused more damage than COVID, a number of leaders joined in the peaceful marches while not being socially distanced and either wearing or not wearing masks. Some even helped to paint murals; Vice Presidential candidate(D) Kamala Harris, Mayor Bill DeBlasio(D) New York, Mayor Lori Lightfoot(D) Chicago, Governor Gretchen Whitmer(D) Michigan to name a few.
19. May 29th: Governor Northam signs executive order requiring everyone that works or passes through Dulles International Airport to wear a mask.
20. June 30th: Senator Diane Feinstein(D) California sends a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Transit Administration calling for mandatory face mask mandates throughout all public transportation.
21. August 31st: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi(D) California went to a San Francisco hair salon for a wash and blow-out, despite local ordinances that kept salons closed during the pandemic.
22. September 25th: Senator Diane Feinstein(D) California was seen walking through Dulles International Airport without wearing a mask despite her June 30th letter.
23. In May or June, presidential candidate Joe Biden said, “If he had listened to me and others and acted just one week earlier to deal with this virus, there’d be 36,000 fewer people dead.” First of all, there is no evidence that I could find that backs this up. Secondly, he continued holding rallies until March 9th and until April 2nd talked about the importance of in-person voting.
As the days and weeks went by, Biden never mentioned masks, social distancing, lockdowns, protective gear, utilizing the Defense Production Act or faster vaccine and therapeutic development.
24. In June Biden was asked what he would do. His current seven point plan looks remarkably similar to what President Trump has already implemented with one exception, Biden wants to implement his plan nationwide. As I said in the previous piece, ” … we are a federalist system … What works for people in big cities … probably won’t work for people in small towns … he would actually become the fascist dictator.”
25. Shortly after all Americans received a stimulus check in April, talks about a second round of stimulus checks began in May or June. It is now the middle of October and, as expected, Republicans and Democrats have not come to an agreement.
Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly carried on about Americans needing help to pay bills, feed their families and so on. “Think about the children.” she says. If she cares SO MUCH about you and your family, wouldn’t she 1) work harder to come to a compromise with Republicans and 2) insist that everyone in Congress skip or curtail their two week recess in July and their four week recess in August? Now all of our elected leaders are on yet another recess until November.
26. March 25th: An advisory from New York State Department Of Health(Governor Cuomo(D) New York, Commissioner Howard Zucker MD, JD, Executive Deputy Commissioner Sally Dreslin, MS, RN) was sent for immediate distribution to Nursing Home Administrators, Directors of Nursing, Directors of Social Work, Hospital, Discharge Planners regarding Hospital Discharges and Admissions to Nursing Homes. The “advisory” said;
“There is an urgent need to expand hospital capacity in New York State to be able to meet the demand for patients with COVID-19 requiring acute care. As a result, this directive is being issued to clarify expectations for nursing homes (NHs) receiving residents returning from hospitalization and for NHs accepting new admissions.”
It goes on to say,
“During this global health emergency, all NHs must comply with the expedited receipt of residents returning from hospitals to NHs. Residents are deemed appropriate for return to a NH upon a determination by the hospital physician or designee that the resident is medically stable for return.
“No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the NH solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. NHs are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”
May 8th: This advisory was rescinded, after thousands of residents of elder care facilities died. As of August 29th, the number of New Yorkers who died as a result of COVID was 25,319 out of which 6,639 were from nursing homes, but this omits potentially thousands of residents who died in hospitals.
Governor Cuomo was not alone. Governors Phil Murphy(D) New Jersey, Gretchen Whitmer(D) Michigan, Gavin Newsom(D) California, and Tom Wolf(D) Pennsylvania all gave similar orders.
Thought for the day: Remember, when you point your finger at someone, you have three more pointing back at you
Check back in the coming days for more and don’t forget to read more of my posts.
Bella's Thoughts on Life 