Read on Twitter
1/Want to dwell on this video clip of the President yesterday. It's a glimpse into how completely bananas his view of what standing up the country is.
He says as the country opens up we'll need to establish internal borders between states.
Yes, borders. https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1251298741941829633
He says as the country opens up we'll need to establish internal borders between states.
Yes, borders. https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1251298741941829633
2/We have two ways to combat the virus - stay at home/shut down, or mass testing/tracing/isolation.
Both of these paths require very significant govt involvement in one's life and will generate opposition (liberate!).
And because they are hard, POTUS has chosen to do neither.
Both of these paths require very significant govt involvement in one's life and will generate opposition (liberate!).
And because they are hard, POTUS has chosen to do neither.
3/In the past week the President has essentially ended phase 1 of our response to COVID. That phase, because we didn't have mass testing/isolation as countries like South Korea had, has been an extended and damaging stay-at-home initiated and overseen by the states.
4/Even though there is broad support for the stay-at-home policies, and for the governors who have initiated them, the President has grown tired of it all and wants things back to the way they were. https://twitter.com/pollreport/status/1251280964283535360
5/The problem of course is that to end Phase 1 the virus will have to have stopped spreading, and a mass testing/tracing regime in place. It simply isn't clear the spread of the virus has slowed, and we have no mass testing regime in place. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/04/us-coronavirus-outbreak-out-control-test-positivity-rate/610132/
6/If we start opening up, and have no national testing regime in place, as the President wants, then it just isn't clear how anyone can travel anywhere - as the President suggests in that video clip.
Let me explain why.
Let me explain why.
7/Let says I live in DC and travel to Boston. While there I get feverish, get tested and am found to have COVID. What happens? Do I get on a train/plane home, possibly infecting dozens of people? Am I forced into a govt isolation ward in MA? Who traces my contacts in DC?
8/So, in this simple case it's clear that if we're going to allow travel outside one's own region there will have to be a national regime in place, w/rules for everyone, natl tracing capacity, a clear understanding of how we handle isolation. W/o it, we can't leave our region.
9/And when I say we won't be able to leave our region I am talking abt not being able to leave one's own region for the next 18 months. 18 months.
Is that standing the country back up?
What's worrisome is that the President seems to understand this, and is okay with it.
Is that standing the country back up?
What's worrisome is that the President seems to understand this, and is okay with it.
10/Let's return to the video. There are only 2 possibilities here:
1) President is okay w/US breaking up into regions w/o national (or international) travel for 18 months.
2) He thinks the virus is just going to go away, and we can return to normal. https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1251298741941829633
1) President is okay w/US breaking up into regions w/o national (or international) travel for 18 months.
2) He thinks the virus is just going to go away, and we can return to normal. https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1251298741941829633
11/So, yes, what the President has in his head abt how all this going to proceed over the next few months is BATSHIT CRAZY.
Congress, Governors, leaders need to come together to force him to establish a national testing/tracing regime. It's THE ONLY way we stand the country up.
Congress, Governors, leaders need to come together to force him to establish a national testing/tracing regime. It's THE ONLY way we stand the country up.
12/IMHO the reason the President won't stand up a national testing/tracing regime is that he understands that it will likely require either mandatory testing and/or isolation; and that his Liberate! crowd won't ever go for it.
Like national stay at home, he just can't do it.
Like national stay at home, he just can't do it.
13/It's why the President has moved with such force on the economy but has been disabled on the health response to COVID - the 2 choices he's been given put him directly at odds w/far right extremist belief and so he's paralyzed.
He's chosen Liberate! over the American people.
He's chosen Liberate! over the American people.
