Here is the summary report for the swine flu outbreak in 2009.
https://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/cdcresponse.htmApproximately 12,000 US citizens died from this flu over the course of the 2009-2010 flu season (aka full year). 60,000,000 people were diagnosed to have contracted the disease, approximately 275,000 required hospitalization. Most of the deaths were in victims with either underlying medical problems OR in this case, the very young that has no exposure to any previous outbreak of an H1N1 type virus. At this point in time most people had some previous exposure that rendered some level of protection.
The report outlines the steps taken to battle the pandemic. This was a well organized response that bears little resemblance to the sh*t show we are currently experiencing.
BTW,
a) this outbreak occurred in Obama's first year in office, not his fourth.
b) why didn't we hear more about this? Because the CDC was doing a masterful job combatting it. Also, the country was going through the worst economic downturn since the great depression and most people were paying more attention to that.
Harry Truman used to have a sign on his desk. "The Buck Stops Here". Apparently the current occupant of the oval office feels it should not stop anywhere near his desk.
I have never seen such a huge pack of lies peddled by the president and his supporters to cover up his own administrations failings.
First he lied about the severity of the disease and then changed his tune to indicate that he ALWAYS knew it was a pandemic, allegedly to "protect" us from panic. That didn't work out too well on either count.
The US stockpile of equipment/supplies had not been maintained. The contract for maintenance on the ventilators expired last August. This was in the the third year of Trump's presidency. Somewhere between 20% and 25% of the ventilators shipped out to states were non functional.
The cupboard was bare (He is in his 4th year in office, even if it was depleted when he first took office why didn't he take steps to restock)
The original test kits were "old". There were no "old" test kits for this brand new virus.
No one told him how serious this was (early warning were raised in late 2019 and much more dire ones in early January). He chose to listen to the premier of China over his own intelligence community and health experts.
His administration dismantled the internal task force set up to deal with pandemics. While he may not have done this personally, it happened on his watch and EVERYONE involved with this decision is running for cover and/or engaged in high powered spin control.
He continues to post claims for unproven treatments that are leading to potentially dangerous low levels of availability of these drugs for people that need them for protection from the diseases they were designed to fight while offering only anecdotal protection for dealing with COVID 19.
I'm waiting for someone to trot out "My dog ate the report!" excuse. Oh wait, he doesn't have a dog, or a cat, or even goldfish. First president since Polk to not have a pet. That should have raised a few red flags in and of itself.
Bottom line is I have no reason to believe anything that comes out of his mouth or is penned under his name. It used to be the old joke "How can you tell a politician is lying? His lips are moving!" was considered in large part to be hyperbole. That is no longer the case. In one month, we are closing in on the full year death toll of the H1N1 pandemic and that is definitely not hyperbole.
As compared with Trump and his family, and perhaps some here, who believe in taking from the poor to give to the rich, starting with Herr Trump's father, the slumlord.
