COVID19 Update - Day 182

US Tests: 83,358,107*

US Cases: 6,298,422*

US Deaths: 181,690*

Worldwide Cases: 27,453,109*

Worldwide Deaths: 894,796*

* - Numbers are a lower bound.  True numbers are being suppressed by the Trump administration

Trump has finally made himself irrelevant, at least as far as the pandemic is concerned.  This is actually a horrifying development --- what makes it worse is that it's probably the best outcome we can hope for.

States, cities, and pharmaceutical companies are contradicting or ignoring the Trump administration in responding to COVID-19 as the White House continues to push for responses that could help the President politically while undermining the country’s ability to fight the pandemic.

The Trump administration has issued directives and statements in recent weeks that appear aimed at boosting the President’s chances of re-election, be it predictions of a vaccine in time for Nov. 3, or a change in CDC guidance that, if followed, would reduce the volume tests, resulting in the appearance of fewer cases.

But the administration’s ongoing battle against the political impact of COVID-19 —rather than the disease itself — has lowered confidence in the country’s public health agencies. The loss of influence has meant that states and local governments are far warier of federal public health advice.

. . .

The result is a situation in which the Trump administration issues politically motivated pronouncements that damage the federal government’s ability to fight COVID-19, but which are sometimes so absurd on their face that institutions outside of the President’s chain-of-command won’t participate.

Let's hope that other institutions similarly choose to ignore the rantings of the Fascist-in-Chief.