Disasters in Slow Motion (pt. 13) - May 30, 2020

May 23 (17:41 GMT) - Actual Numbers
Worldwide Cases: 5,369,039
Worldwide Deaths: 342,393
Worldwide Mortality Rate: 6.37%
US Cases: 1,655,670
US Deaths: 98,145
US Mortality Rate: 5.92%
US Total Recovered: 438,562

May 30 (15:17 GMT) - Actual Numbers
Worldwide Cases: 6,067,574
Worldwide Deaths: 367,595
Worldwide Mortality Rate: 6.05%
Worldwide Mortality Rate (without US): 6.15%
US Cases: 1,797,087
US Deaths: 104,633
US Mortality Rate: 5.82%
US Total Recovered: 519,717

Archaeologists in the future would not be blamed for thinking that there could be no way anyone would attack efforts to halt a global pandemic. They’d be wrong, of course, so let’s look at how the US is sabotaging its own efforts to save the American population.

Established in 1948, The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. This is the organization that led the (successful) fight to eradicate smallpox and has been working to eradicate Polio as well as other horrific diseases. That is only one small part of what they do. In the case of Covid-19, back in January the World Health Organization was sounding alarm bells that countries needed to prepare themselves for the spread of this new virus and, on March 11, declared a global pandemic. Since then, they have shipped more than two million items of personal protective equipment and one million diagnostic test kits to over 120 countries. Additionally, they are spearheading efforts to create a vaccine for distribution.

All of that is pretty important work, and looking at their efforts, one cannot help but agree that the World Health Organization is a pretty important agency. Like anything involved in the UN, one can make accusations of political interference, but the agency’s track record is a good one, and their record on Covid-19 is pretty solid.

So, impeached President Donald Trump announced that the US is severing ties with the WHO while reviewing its role in "severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus." He has since gone on to present selective histories of Covid-19 and has falsely claimed that the WHO ignored warnings from Taiwan that the virus could be transmitted between humans. This has been thoroughly refuted by medical experts but Trump is determined to make certain that the fingers in the US aren’t pointing at him. On May 29, Trump announced plans to cut ties between the United States and the WHO. So, let’s take a look at a timeline - shall we? Links for each month lead to the WHO actions, individual links to the US.

November 2019

• Nov - US -US intelligence warns the White House of a contagion in the Wuhan region.
• Nov - US - Government takes no action.
• Nov 27 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.
• Nov 30 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.

December 2019

• Dec - US - Government takes no action.
• Dec - WHO - Obtains a Chinese report about 7+ cases of atypical pneumonia.
• Dec 1 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.
• Dec 21 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.
• Dec 22 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.
• Dec 23 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.
• Dec 24 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.
• Dec 26 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.
• Dec 27 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.
• Dec 28 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.
• Dec 29 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.
• Dec 30 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.
• Dec 31 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.

January 2020

• Jan 1 - WHO - Sets up the Incident Management Support Team for dealing with the disease outbreak on an emergency basis.
• Jan 1 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.
• Jan 2 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.
• Jan 3 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.
• Jan 4 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.
• Jan 5 - WHO - Notifies all member states about the new outbreak of an unknown pneumonia virus in Hubei province of China.
• Jan 5 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.
• Jan 10 - WHO - Issues a comprehensive package of guidance to countries on how to test for potential cases and has warned of the risk of human-to-human transmission.
• Jan 11 - CHINA - Announces the first death from Covid-19.
• Jan 12 - CHINA - Scientists share the genetic sequence of the new virus, and the WHO asked a German team to design a test.
• Jan 13 - WHO - Confirms the first case of the disease outside of China, in Thailand.
• Jan 14 - WHO - Recommends countries to take precautions due to the human-to-human transmission during earlier SARS and MERS outbreaks.
• Jan 18 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.
• Jan 19 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.
• Jan 20 - WHO - Releases a tweet that it is "now very clear from the latest information that there is at least some human-to-human transmission" that has occurred, given that healthcare workers had been infected.
• Jan 21 - US - First case of Covid-19 reported in the US.
• Jan 22 - US - When asked if Covid-19 was a concern impeached President Trump replied, “No, we’re not at all. And we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China.”
• Jan 24 - US - Impeached President Trump tweets, “China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!”
• Jan 27 - WHO - Assesses risk of the outbreak to be "high at the global level".
• Jan 28 - US - Impeached President Trump holds a campaign rally.
• Jan 29 - US - More than two months after being made aware of the threat, impeached President Trump announces the creation of a Covid-19 task force.
• Jan 30 - WHO - Advises that the outbreak constituted a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, warns that "all countries should be prepared for containment".
• Jan 30 - US - At an event in Michigan, impeached President Trump says, “We’re working very strongly with China on the coronavirus—that’s a new thing that a lot of people are talking about….We think it’s going to have a very good ending for it. So that I can assure you.”
• Jan 31 - US - Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, reports that asymptomatic transmission is occurring.

February 2020

• Feb 1 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.
• Feb 2 - US - White House puts Chinese travel restrictions in place. Americans continue to return from China.
• Feb 2 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf. 11th US Covid-19 case reported.
• Feb 5 - US - Sen. Chris Murphy tweets, “Just left the Administration briefing on Coronavirus. Bottom line: they aren’t taking this seriously enough.”
• Feb 6 - US - Earliest known US Covid-19 death, not discovered until April.
• Feb 7 - US - Asked if he thinks China is covering up the coronavirus, impeached President Trump says, “No. China is working very hard….They’re working really hard, and I think they are doing a very professional job. They’re in touch with the World [Health] Organization. CDC also. We’re working together.”
• Feb 10 - US - At a campaign rally impeached President Trump states, “Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.”
• Feb 11 - US - Impeached President Trump holds a campaign rally in El Paso, TX. There is no mention of Covid-19.
• Feb 12 - WHO - Research and Innovation Forum was convened by the WHO to fund priority research for stopping the outbreak and preventing future outbreaks.
• Feb 13 - US - While speaking to Geraldo Rivera, impeached President Trump states “It’s a problem in China. Has not been spreading very much. In our country, we only have, basically, 12 cases and most of those people are recovering and some cases fully recovered.”
• Feb 14 - US - Impeached President Trump says, “We have a very small number of people in the country, right now, with it. It’s like around 12. Many of them are getting better. Some are fully recovered already. So we’re in very good shape.”
• Feb 15 - US - Impeached President Trump plays golf.
• Feb 16 - WHO - WHO/China Joint Mission begins.
• Feb 19 - US - In an interview, impeached President Trump says, “I think it’s going to work out fine. I think when we get into April, in the warmer weather, that has a very negative effect on that and that type of a virus. So let’s see what happens, but I think it’s going to work out fine.”
• Feb 19 - US - Impeached President Trump holds a campaign rally in Phoenix, AZ. There is no mention of Covid-19.
• Feb 20 - US - Impeached President Trump holds a campaign rally in Colorado Springs, CO. There is no mention of Covid-19.
• Feb 21 - US - Impeached President Trump holds a campaign rally in Las Vegas, NV. There is no mention of Covid-19.
• Feb 23 - US - Impeached President Trump tells reporters, “We have it very much under control in this country.”
• Feb 24 - WHO - WHO/China joint mission releases report about the evolution of the outbreak in China
• Feb 24 - US - Impeached President Trump tweets, “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health [Organization] have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
• Feb 24 - US - White House (apparently not knowing that Covid-19 is “under control”) asks for $1.25B in emergency funds.
• Feb 25 - US - Nancy Messonier, the director of National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, says the CDC is preparing for a pandemic. Impeached President Trump threatens to fire her.
• Feb 26 - US - The CDC confirms the first case of community spread Covid-19.
• Feb 26 - US - Impeached President Trump says, “We’re testing everybody that we need to test. And we’re finding very little problem.…It’s a little like the regular flu that we have flu shots for. And we’ll essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner.” He says the number of cases “within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.”
• Feb 27 - US - Impeached President Trump says, “It’s going to disappear. One day—it’s like a miracle—it will disappear.”
• Feb 28 - US - At a rally in Charleston, South Carolina, impeached President Trump notes that there have been no reported deaths in the United States yet. “You wonder if the press is in hysteria mode. Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. You know that, right? Coronavirus. They’re politicizing it….And this is their new hoax.”
• Feb 29 - US - The day after Trump notes that there have been no Covid-19 deaths in the US, the first US death is announced. There are 66 reported cases of Covid-19 in the US.
• Feb 29 - Disasters in Slow Motion - Part 1

I’ve gotten up through the end of February now, and I really want to do more, but this is already a bit longer than normal and has taken much longer than normal. Considering the number of people reading these, I’m going to stop here for now. I’ll pick this back up and continue but I shouldn’t take up more time today.

Still, even this much shows the laxity of response from the US government and the amount of golf being played, the number of rallies being held - all instead of DOING something. Still, we are at the kicking off point still, where all of what we are currently enduring could’ve been avoid. Wait until you see what happened once things really kicked off. Laid out it gets really scary.

As for those wondering on my insistence on using “impeached President Trump”? He was impeached, we also know that he has defrauded veterans charities, run a fake university, and so much more. I think it about time that we begin to hammer home his unfitness for office - and we aren’t even to his retweet of a picture fiddling while Rome burns.

More in a few days.