COVID19 Update - Day 298

US Tests: 214,286,448*

US Cases: 19,888,285*

US Deaths: 339,313*

Worldwide Cases: 84,177,874*

Worldwide Deaths: 1,830,612*

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

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had an enjoyable New Year's Eve/New Year's Day.  Mine was fine, thanks for asking.

I hadn't planned to post anything again this soon --- but then I saw this story in the Times, detailing how Trump saw the pandemic purely as a political problem, rather than giving a damn whether Americans live or die:

Efforts by his aides to persuade him to promote mask wearing, among the simplest and most effective ways to curb the spread of the disease, were derailed by his conviction that his political base would rebel against anything that would smack of limiting their personal freedom. Even his own campaign’s polling data to the contrary could not sway him.

His explicit demand for a vaccine by Election Day — a push that came to a head in a contentious Oval Office meeting with top health aides in late September — became a misguided substitute for warning the nation that failure to adhere to social distancing and other mitigation efforts would contribute to a slow-rolling disaster this winter.

His concern? That the man he called “Sleepy Joe” Biden, who was leading him in the polls, would get credit for a vaccine, not him.

The government’s public health experts were all but silenced by the arrival in August of Dr. Scott W. Atlas, the Stanford professor of neuroradiology recruited after appearances on Fox News.

With Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the coordinator of the White House virus task force, losing influence and often on the road, Dr. Atlas became the sole doctor Mr. Trump listened to. His theories, some of which scientists viewed as bordering on the crackpot, were exactly what the president wanted to hear: The virus is overblown, the number of deaths is exaggerated, testing is overrated, lockdowns do more harm than good.

Trump is the single person most responsible for the devastation the #TrumpVirus has done to more than 340,000 Americans (and counting).  We must never forget the depths of his depravity and failed leadership --- nor can we let his supporters forget it, either.