Congressional oversight committee reports Former President Trump lied to the American people about the dangerousness of Covid leading to unnecessay deaths.

 

All colleges in the SUNY system will require Covid-19 vaccinations to attend in person classes in the fall semester of 2021

 

This appeared in the Daily News out of Batavia, NY on 05/11/21.

For more click here.

MarkhamsSlowNews tracks topics related to public health. Subscribe to get daily notices of updates when new articles are posted to the blog.

The Covid-19 Trumpism Legacy

 In the absence of anything approaching an actual plan, all he has given the country is performative messaging. And that messaging has been a disaster. Trump is the single largest driver of coronavirus misinformation worldwide. He called it a hoax (it wasn't); he said it would magically go away (it didn't); he told people to inject bleach (don't); he mocked people for wearing masks (wear a mask); he said only older people die from the virus and children are immune (none of that is true). Even after he got Covid-19 and recovered—thanks to the socialized medicine taxpayers provided him—he refused to embrace basic science and reason; instead he ripped off his mask, parading about the White House balcony like some orange Übermensch. He ended his failed reelection campaign by barnstorming around the country holding superspreader events that are thought to have caused 30,000 infections and 700 deaths.

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Trump's anti-science sociopathy has been embraced by many other political actors. His messaging, his attitude, his culture-war-mongering have filtered down throughout our country, to our national shame.

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Even after he's removed from the White House (and he will be removed on January 20), Trump will continue to use the media—Twitter, Fox News, Newsmax—to poison the well against public health. There will be a vaccine for the coronavirus eventually, but there is no cure for what Trump has done to our society, no inoculation from the disinformation he spreads, and no way to bring back the lives he's already cost us.

Elie Mystal, "The Real Trump Surge, The Nation, Dec. 14/21, 2020

We will get past the Covid-19 pandemic probably in late 2021 and early 2022 but it will take much longer to get past the egocentric and ethnocentric gravity of the Trumpist level of consciousness. 

The best estimate is that 30% of the American population is stuck at this stage of development and it doesn't seem that many of these folks will further develop.

The 70% will have to learn ways to accommodate these folks or facilitate their development to a higher stage. There are many strategies to accomplish this. The first is to use legal and regulatory tools, but it will take a Charismatic leader to facilitate an interior growth in consciousness as well as the development of social institutions which support the effort..

Covid IXX in the good ole U.S. of A.

Corporate drive though coronavirus testing promised by President Trump is a failure

President Trump's plan to leave coronavirus testing to corporations with drive through testing didn't work out.

From CNN on 03/31/20

(CNN)As he was facing intense criticism for a lack of adequate testing, President Donald Trump announced in the Rose Garden in mid-March that the federal government would partner with private companies to set up drive-thru coronavirus testing sites.

He invited chief executives from Target, Walgreens, Walmart and CVS to the microphone and showered them with praise over the new effort. The President told attendees he envisioned consumers driving up, getting swabbed and having their samples sent off to the lab to be tested -- "without having to leave your car."

But the President's celebrated announcement hasn't come close to being fulfilled.

While these retailers have approximately 30,000 locations combined, the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed that there are only five locations from these major retailers that are currently offering drive-thru testing -- and none are open to the general public.

Good ideas for post Covid-19 social policy changes

One of the blessings of the Covid-19 pandemic is that it has more glaringly exposed the cracks in our social systems in the United States. This is the first of a series of articles naming these deficiencies.

By naming these deficiencies we can identify where policy improvements lie. Once they are identified this identification hopefully leads to enhanced public awareness, a change in public opinion supporting these improvements, positive changes in institutional functioning, and the election of governmental officials who are truly supported of social justice and the welfare of all. and

This first article is on changes in the health care system in the U.S.

1. Expand federal funding for Medicaid.
2. Medicare for all or some other sort of Universal Health Care for all Americans.
3. Expanded hospital capacity to underserved areas.
4. Paid sick leave and paid family medical leave for all employees - no exceptions.
5. Free and accessible testing, treatment, and PPE.
6. Full funding for Indian Health Service and Urban Indian Health Services.
7. Barrier free access to mental health and substance abuse services.
8. Emergency services for mental health and substance abuse services by behavioral health professionals instead of police

Before you vote, know where the candidate stands on these policy reforms.

For more click here.