NYC Mayor Out to Prove That GOP Have Not Cornered the Market on COVID-19 Ignorance

[Amused]

FYI, it is not just the GOP who hold a monopoly on COVID-19 ignorance.

Thankfully he isn't a conspiracy theorist like far too many of the right-wing and GOP, but this level of ignorance from a leader with advisers is inexcusable.

NYC Mayor Out to Prove That GOP Have Not Cornered the Market on COVID-19 Ignorance

Bill de Blasio made the same uninformed coronavirus statements that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp made this week

www.rollingstone.com

NYC Mayor Out to Prove That GOP Have Not Cornered the Market on COVID-19 Ignorance

Bill de Blasio made the same uninformed coronavirus statements that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp made this week

Lest you think coronavirus stupidity is solely a Republican problem, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio made the same uninformed and incorrect statements that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp made this week. de Blasio also tried to claim that until very recently, scientists were not aware that asymptomatic or presymptomatic people with coronavirus, meaning people who carry the virus but are not showing symptoms, could transmit it to other people.

The remarks were made by the New York mayor when he spoke with WNYC’s Brian Lehrer. When Lehrer said that the United States knew “weeks and months ago that asymptomatic people can spread this disease,” de Blasio countered and claimed that this was only realized “in the last 48 hours.” De Blasio is likely referring to a study out of Singapore published on April 1 that found people could transmit the disease before showing symptoms.

Lehrer asked: “Didn’t we know weeks and months ago that asymptomatic people can spread this disease?”

The mayor responded, “No, the fact is I’ve been at so many press conferences where our top doctors for New York City addressed this and they said ‘we just didn’t have evidence from all the global medical community that was studying this issue. There was suspicion, but there was not evidence.”

But this is not true. Both Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Dr. Robert Redfield of the Centers for Disease Control have said for months now that asymptomatic carriers can spread the disease. As Fauci said at a January 31 task force briefing, “You know that in the beginning, we were not sure if there were asymptomatic infection, which would make it a much broader outbreak than what we’re seeing. Now we know for sure that there are. It was not clear whether an asymptomatic person could transmit it to someone while they were asymptomatic. Now we know from a recent report from Germany that that is absolutely the case.”

(snip)

 

[JEDIYoda]

So?? That ios one Democratic Mayor verses how many Republicans?
There is no comparison....sorry!! FAUX outrage not found!!

 

[Brainonska511]

So?? That ios one Democratic Mayor verses how many Republicans?
There is no comparison....sorry!! FAUX outrage not found!!

Granted, BdB is "just" a mayor, but to put things in perspective, NYC's budget is larger than most state governments (last time I looked, it would be in the top 5). BdB isn't a mayor of some podunk city, and we shouldn't excuse BdB being a terrible mayor because other Republicans are also nincompoops. This current crisis is just one of many public policy issues where BdB has been an utter screw-up with.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

What is the main job of government? To manage information. The clearest indicator of incompetence is doing it poorly.

 

[interchange]

I feel like a lot of this is parsing understanding of the English language. Whether something is strongly suspected based on comparison to similar viruses, demonstrated through epidemiologic study, or measured directly. Those are different levels of evidence which could all be commented on by experts in a blanket statement that symptomatic spread exists, but that doesn't make statements saying this has not been proven false prior to direct evidence of viral shedding in asymptomatic patients. The context matters. If the context leads to a false reassurance that symptomatic spread was unlikely and delay of actions costing many lives waiting for absolute confirmation, then there is a real problem.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I think everyone is off base on this.

The reason that Fauci, CDC and all the rest are alarmed about Novel Corona derives from the fact that it has never before crossed paths with a human being. It is extremely contagious. They've only recently learned these things about it -- that an asymptomatic carrier can infect others. Or you can be infected with a 14-day advance before symptoms appear.

They don't know how the virus may mutate through its unfolding history of human infection.

They don't know whether recovered-immune people will have later complications.

They don't know how long the immunity will last. De Blasio even says "there was suspicion, but not evidence" about asymptomatics infecting others.

Did deBlasio try and encourage people to go to bars and restaurants, or attend crowded churches to pray with others and "leave it to God"?

This almost seems like the criticism phenomena we'd seen before. "How do I know Obama's birth certificate is real?" "Obama's line-in-the-sand remark show's how weak he is!" "Obama lied! He lied about not having to give up your preferred doctor!" "Hillary erased 33,000 classified e-mails! [or was it Home Depot, Sears, Amazon and the grocery store?]"

Even so, I can't gauge whether deBlasio is a competent administrator or mediocre. But I'll say this.

Andrew Cuomo deserves kudos for his service. His head is screwed on right. Just as with Obama, Cuomo is so great that Trump would need a fire-ladder on Trump Tower just to kiss his ass. Or in Obama's case -- to polish Barack's shoes.

 

[Moonbeam]

I feel like a lot of this is parsing understanding of the English language. Whether something is strongly suspected based on comparison to similar viruses, demonstrated through epidemiologic study, or measured directly. Those are different levels of evidence which could all be commented on by experts in a blanket statement that symptomatic spread exists, but that doesn't make statements saying this has not been proven false prior to direct evidence of viral shedding in asymptomatic patients. The context matters. If the context leads to a false reassurance that symptomatic spread was unlikely and delay of actions costing many lives waiting for absolute confirmation, then there is a real problem.

This sounds to me like something worth paying attention to as it was spoken by somebody with professional medical training. I appreciated reading it.

 

[Moonbeam]

FYI, it is not just the GOP who hold a monopoly on COVID-19 ignorance.

Thankfully he isn't a conspiracy theorist like far too many of the right-wing and GOP, but this level of ignorance from a leader with advisers is inexcusable.

Personally, I consider myself to be too ignorant here to say what is inexcusable and what isn't. I hope we can all improve on our openness to learning and one sure way to hinder that, in my opinion is self blame. Don't want the the Mayor, with his huge responsibilities to have any more of that than he already feels as a result of living in a world of put downs at every turn.

 

[tweaker2]

Bottom line, Blasio's overall record on how he's been responding to the crisis is more favorable than not. More importantly though is how he is, like Cuomo, and much more unlike many Repub leaders, much more concerned about their constituent's health rather than the profit losses those big corporations are experiencing of whom have much more control over the Repub's handling of the crisis than the Dems.

Let's face it, in the DNA of both parties, the Dem party is much more concerned with the welfare of the working class while the Repub party's heart, mind and soul is controlled by the very wealthy who are exclusively concerned about their own interests to the demise of the blue collar working stiffs of the nation.

From that perspective, it's only logical that in times of crisis, the Dems are the ones who will step up for the lowly peasant class while the Repubs will stridently defend the aristocrat class just from being a long running bred in reflex of theirs.

Any effort to "bothsides" this national crisis is nonsensical and a purely partisan effort to take the heat off of Trump and the Repub party's efforts to favor the very wealthy over the working class when it comes right down to the essence of it all.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Bottom line, Blasio's overall record on how he's been responding to the crisis is more favorable than not. More importantly though is how he is, like Cuomo, and much more unlike many Repub leaders, much more concerned about their constituent's health rather than the profit losses those big corporations are experiencing of whom have much more control over the Repub's handling of the crisis than the Dems.

Let's face it, in the DNA of both parties, the Dem party is much more concerned with the welfare of the working class while the Repub party's heart, mind and soul is controlled by the very wealthy who are exclusively concerned about their own interests to the demise of the blue collar working stiffs of the nation.

From that perspective, it's only logical that in times of crisis, the Dems are the ones who will step up for the lowly peasant class while the Repubs will stridently defend the aristocrat class just from being a long running bred in reflex of theirs.

Any effort to "bothsides" this national crisis is nonsensical and a purely partisan effort to take the heat off of Trump and the Repub party's efforts to favor the very wealthy over the working class when it comes right down to the essence of it all.

Just as epilogue, your class-struggle explanation of things has some merit.

So it's interesting, when reviewing such things as Daniel Defoe's "Journal of the Plague Year", that in epidemics of the past, it was the "Great Unwashed" who spread the contagion.

Now, in a world of globalization, jet-set celebrities, Celebrity cruise ships offering an LSD-trip White Rabbit experience to passengers, it seems to be Elites who are spreading the germs.

I slowly became a Democrat by registration and activism because my measuring stick was one of "serving the public good". Another word for it: "good government". The public good also addresses issues of preserving the nation-state, as well as all the other nice things, like the safety-net or just public-health common sense. And I"ll say this: people who don't reflect on their origins, who take for granted what the Mixed Economy has brought them in their lives, are living in La-La Land.

But this administration -- if you can call it that word -- is Guilty. Guilty of acting against the National Interest. Guilty of ignoring the Predecessor's accomplishments and furthering them -- like the ACA or the Pandemic Response Team. Guilty of mass negligent homicide and ignoring warnings from the career intelligence community. Guilty of kidnapping immigrant kids, getting some of them sick and dead, and making it impossible for some instances to reunite them with their parents. Guilty of damaging the economy, while touting the business-cycle as their own patent success.

And I want Justice! Justice, even if the Base feels screwed by it!

 

[Maxima1]

I think everyone is off base on this.

The reason that Fauci, CDC and all the rest are alarmed about Novel Corona derives from the fact that it has never before crossed paths with a human being. It is extremely contagious. They've only recently learned these things about it -- that an asymptomatic carrier can infect others. Or you can be infected with a 14-day advance before symptoms appear.

That's BS because I posted about that exact number at the end of January. I certainly wasn't the first.