How Our Government is Pretending COVID-19 is Behind Us
Recently, I wrote a similar article on how people are acting like this virus has left us and all is well, but I felt that with the recent spikes in cases, that it was time to revisit the topic and those who are putting us in danger with this pandemic.
People all across this country are acting as if the virus and the associated pandemic are no longer with us and that things are back to normal by the way they are going about their lives, but sadly, that is not the case and if we keep on acting as if COVID-19 has passed, the consequences could be catastrophic for our nation.
The reason that the citizens of our country think that the Coronavirus has come and gone is because our leaders are acting that same way and relaying that message. I am here to tell you that this is the wrong message, we should be telling people the truth and that truth is that this virus remains with us and is more devastating today than it was back in the very beginning.
One of those leaders who wants to walk away from this pandemic and claim mission accomplished is Donald Trump.
Bored with the virus and done with the pandemic
Trump, thinks that just because he has become bored with COVID-19 that he can wash his hands of it and move on to other things, but I am sorry, it does not work that way Donald, and just because he may be done with the virus as President of the United States, that does not mean that the virus is done with him or our country.
The virus is very much still with us and will be with us for some time, even longer than originally expected.
One of the main reasons that this pandemic will stay with us much longer is because of leaders like Trump among others who became impatient and in fact tired of waiting for the cases to go down and reopened the country much sooner than it should have been opened.
Trump pushed for reopening and many of these Republican governors did just that and much too soon and that gave us more cases and more deaths and it gave us states being forced to roll back their reopening plans. So, to those who think that this is over and that we have defeated this pandemic, think again, because this is far from over.
I know that Trump likes to ignore things that he does not like, but ignoring this will be devastating to this country. In fact, it already has been horrific throughout the months that it has already gone on, with the deaths and the sick and the job losses and now he wants to just pretend that it is over and all is well.
Trump has moved on and is encouraging others to the same. Trump has never told the state and local leaders in this country to remain closed until it is safe to open and that was negligent on his part. It is up to the leader of the country to lead and Trump has failed to do that, and now he wants to pretend that the virus has left us and that is negligent as well.
You have seen the states reopen their malls, their beaches, their casinos amid the cases rising and deaths happening all throughout this reopening process and the governors of these states have denied the virus still being an issue all while their citizens are dropping like flies. This is because they are following the lead of the leader of the country and his reckless “leadership” during this crisis.
A virus that no longer serves the political aspirations of the Republican Party
Just look at the political rallies that Trump has held in virus hotspots with thousands of people without masks and not practicing social distancing without a care in the world. The Trump team even went as far as to have their staff remove social distancing stickers on seats at these rallies and encourage people not to wear masks and these actions have caused the virus to spread and cases to rise.
Trump sends the wrong messages about the virus and only uses it when it serves his agenda.
It was like this, when Trump could use the pandemic for his own agenda of pushing an unproven drug that he owns stock in the company that makes it then it was good, but when lives were being lost and he was being held to a higher standard of accountability for his weak response then he wanted to run from the virus and everything associated with it.
Trump changed the narrative and conversation when it comes to COVID-19 once he realized that he could no longer benefit from it. I am sure that you noticed that once his daily Coronavirus Task Force briefings no longer were about him and how great he was doing and no longer gave him the political points that he needs for his re-election, that is when he did not want to do them anymore, never mind the fact that the American people needed to know what was happening with the status of the pandemic.
If it doesn't serve Trump and what he wants, then he does not want anything to do with it.
Governors have an agenda as well, some have the agenda of saving lives, others have a different one.
Trump is the main one, but he is not the only one who wants to move on from this pandemic before it has moved on from us.
Republican governors want to ignore that it is still a problem too and they have their own reasons for this and none of these reasons benefit the people of their states, not one bit.
Look at all the states that have had a rise in cases and then look for some key factors about those states that set them apart from the states that have had lower cases. If you do this, you will see some key facts about these states that play a big role and that make all the difference when showing why we are at where we are with the state of the pandemic.
These states reopened too soon
They have Republican governors who are pro-Trump
For the most part, these are the two factors consistent with the states that are having a surge in cases and deaths. Of course there are some exceptions, but many of the states that still have a problem with the virus are states with GOP governors and states that reopened too soon and reopened their states against the recommendations of the health experts.
Florida is a clear example.
The state of Florida reopened too soon because their governor did not take this virus seriously and look where they are now. They are having on average more cases per day than many states have had in total and even have had an increase of nearly 10,000 cases in one recently.
The governor reopened beaches just before the summer began and people flocked to those beaches by the thousands.
There are pictures and videos of people partying at bars and on beaches with no masks or social distancing in Florida and the governor took no action to put a stop to it and instead catered to the wishes of Trump to reopen against the recommendations of the medical experts.
Florida is not the only state to fail on this virus and fail to take steps to take care of their citizens.
Other states failed too.
Georgia, Wisconsin, Texas, and more all reopened too soon and lives were lost and infections went up and what these states have in common is that they have Republican governors who are big defenders of Trump. It is because of that, they have ignored the seriousness of this virus and have done as Trump has done and favor the economy over the lives lost to this virus and that is why they have got to where they are.
These states put the states that did the right thing from the start in danger as well as their people went to these other states and spread the virus and then we have Trump and the actions he has taken with holding rallies where folks came from across the country to attend and then went back to their homes all across the nation and spread this virus to their families, their co-workers, and within their communities.
“It is going to just disappear”
These are the words of your president. He has said it before when he claimed that the cases would go from fifteen to zero and they didn't, they have gone from fifteen to 2.7 million in just a few short months, and are expected to grow even higher as time goes on.
Trump said it again today that it will all vanish and things will be back to normal.
The fact is that it isn’t ever going to disappear with the way that the state and federal government has handled this crisis, or shall I say, ignored the threat of this pandemic. It will remain with us and get worse if we do not take steps to reduce the spread and one of the main ways that we do that is to wear a mask as well as social distancing and staying at home.
The fact is that our government failed and let this thing get out of control and the brunt of this responsibility is at the federal level and the President of the United States in particular and Trump and federal leaders as well as those governors I mentioned continue to fail us and pretend that this is behind us, when we know it is not.
Our country wants to move on, but we are a long way from that
This crisis has been tough on us all and we all want to move on and be done with it. I get that. I understand that the lockdowns and masks and everything else has been hard for all of us, but this is where we are at and if we can start to accept our reality, then we will be much better off.
I know that people want to be done with it all. I for sure do get that.
We could be and we would be in much better shape if our leaders would be patient and act with competence and intelligence when it comes to fighting this virus. If those in charge would have waited to reopen certain sectors and would set the right example and wear a mask and take this pandemic like the serious thing that it is, then we would be perhaps at the end of it, yet here we are with it just starting in many ways.
This is where we are at. More and more places are closing again and more people are becoming infected and dying and this is because the president and his fellow Republican voters and Republican governors and senators do not take this seriously even after all the damage and death that this virus has caused in such a short amount of time.
The way that we get out of it is to take this as seriously as it is and have leaders who take it seriously as well.
The pandemic has not left us. I have written about this many times including an article titled, “The Pandemic “Part Two” because this is far from over and it is time that we all accept that fact and do what we can to protect ourselves as well as protect each other and work our way through this crisis that we find ourselves in.
Our leaders and especially Trump may want to pretend that we have won and it is over, but we the American people who value science and medicine know better and we know that it is not over and we must do what we can to keep everyone safe, even when it is uncomfortable for us to do so and not what we want — the public health of our communities is what matters most, even if our leaders do not.
