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Obama says Trump ‘ignored’ pandemic playbook he gave to him (www.huffpost.com)

submitted 1 day ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

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Former President Barack Obama said he gave ex-President Donald Trump a pandemic playbook when Trump took office — but he disregarded it.

“He ignored it,” Obama said during a rallyfor Vice President Kamala Harris in Las Vegas on Saturday. “And three years later, a pandemic hits.”

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[-] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 6 points 8 hours ago

I don't think he ignored it. He probably looked under the section of profiteering activities to watch out for and did any of those that he could understand.

[-] JustZ@lemmy.world 24 points 15 hours ago

I remember this. They lost it.

Everyone knew for decades that a zoonotic corona virus was coming. We even knew it would likely come from China.

There was a whole plan for what to do. Treatment strategies, logistics, economic and national security issues, and Trump's people literally said they lost it.

[-] tikimusic@lemmy.world -3 points 5 hours ago

"Playbook"

[-] AAA@feddit.org 13 points 15 hours ago

The real question is: if Obama gave Trump an obviously terrible plan, with the goal to let as many people die as possible, would Trump have gone out of his way to save each and everyone - simply out of spite for Obama?

Of course he wouldn't have, but I like the idea.

[-] adespoton@lemmy.ca 5 points 6 hours ago

No, he would have rejected it in favor of a plan he made himself that enriched his friends and family and blamed the ensuing chaos on Obama.

[-] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 86 points 23 hours ago

Trump ignored Obama's playbook AND he fired his own team leader; he fired the admiral in charge of pandemic response because that admiral was freinds with another staffer Trump didn't like.

https://www.reuters.com/article/world/exclusive-us-axed-cdc-expert-job-in-china-months-before-virus-outbreak-idUSKBN21910R/

https://www.science.org/content/article/inside-story-how-trumps-covid-19-coordinator-undermined-cdc

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/nsc-pandemic-office-trump-closed/2020/03/13/a70de09c-6491-11ea-acca-80c22bbee96f_story.html

[-] solsangraal@lemmy.zip 109 points 1 day ago

trump ignored everything everyone gave him. except putin's marching orders

[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 28 points 1 day ago

also the hamberders. he scarffed those.

[-] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 64 points 22 hours ago

WE (some of us) KNOW

[-] jballs@sh.itjust.works 10 points 19 hours ago

Unfortunately, many people are left out of the "some of us" group and are trying their damnedest to get this dipshit elected again.

[-] ravhall@discuss.online 5 points 18 hours ago

I don’t think those people come to Lemmy

[-] Australis13@fedia.io 38 points 1 day ago

Isn't this old news? I recall Trump not only throwing out the handbook, but disbanding the pandemic response team, too...

[-] Rhaedas@fedia.io 13 points 20 hours ago

He actively tried to undo anything with Obama's name on it. The one thing he's good at is holding a grudge.

[-] Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io 11 points 20 hours ago

It is old news, and it's worth bringing up at this time because it shows how poorly qualified trump was then for holding the office of the presidency.

[-] xc2215x@lemmy.world 6 points 22 hours ago

Knowing Trump, no shock.

[+] Diva@lemmy.ml -67 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Wow it's almost like letting it rip through the population was a terrible idea. So why did they "end COVID" (just the payouts to people, gotta make them get back to work) under Biden when it's still very much around? Levels were higher this year than any previous years and the Biden admin actually took Trump's advice "Just stop counting"

[-] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 44 points 23 hours ago

When Trump said it hundreds of thousands of people were dying from covid because we did not have a vaccine and the variant was extremely deadly. Hospitals were nearing collapse, and ignoring it would have been an even bigger catastrophe than it was.

Now we have vaccines and have built up enough immunity that while it is still around and still causing damage to the population, it is no longer the massive threat that it was, even if it is still worse than most people think.

[-] pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online 10 points 20 hours ago

It's now endemic, not a pandemic.

[+] Diva@lemmy.ml -26 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Now we have vaccines and have built up enough immunity that while it is still around and still causing damage to the population, it is no longer the massive threat that it was, even if it is still worse than most people think.

I agree on most- vaccines are great, but immunity doesn't work like that, if anything people getting repeat infections fare worse.

I fear for the children growing up with years of covid infections racked up by the time they're 18, and allowing that to just happen is going to be regarded the same way leaded paint/gas is now.

Like obviously the social/developmental/economic impacts of interrupting school for lockdowns are bad, but both things still be bad and are ultimately solvable problems that we're worse off for not addressing.

[-] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 26 points 23 hours ago

I agree on most- vaccines are great, but immunity doesn’t work like that, if anything people getting repeat infections fare worse.

That is exactly how it works! Immunity doesn't mean your body has a perfect defense or that nothing will ever come from a minor infection, it means your body will be able to fight off the worst effects and might even result in not having lasting damage. This is true for ALL diseases including the flu and even colds!

Covid is still on the terrible end of the spectrum and if people would actually keep up the vaccination rate the disease could become as rare as measles over time, but that takes decades and expecting something like that right now is pretty ridiculous. What we have to do it mitigate it as best we can, and at this point we are doing as much as society will accept for lengthy periods of time with lowered rates of death. We were fine with 10s of thousands deaths and the long term impacts of the flu prior to 2020 and we are approaching that with covid.

[+] Diva@lemmy.ml -18 points 22 hours ago

I never said that immunity meant your body had a perfect defense, nor did I say that you did- though maybe I misinterpreted what you said at the population level re: vaccines as something related to the immunity from infection.

I meant that it doesn't always track that getting infected more means you as an individual are building up immunity across all those infections, people get reinfected after several months and it's often worse.

One guy I knew (indirectly) had had it twice with little issues then died after the third time- he had comorbidities and its an anecdote, but still.

[-] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 19 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

One guy I knew (indirectly) had had it twice with little issues then died after the third time- he had comorbidities and its an anecdote, but still.

Yes, having comorbidities means the person is less likely to have the increased immunity to the disease than the average person. Even colds can be fatal for some people, but that doesn't mean the general trend of building up immunity from repeated exposure is wrong. That really is how the immune system works in healthy populations.

[-] adespoton@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 hours ago

Also, most of the susceptible people die in the first few waves. What you’re left with is a population that’s more resistant. Over time, the comorbidities tail off.

Looking at population level resistance is different than looking at individual resistance.

[+] Diva@lemmy.ml -8 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

I mean, at the population level people with comorbidities and susceptibilities get culled early on, and thus the overall rates will look better after that. The issue I have is with only considering healthy people.

Me, I'm going to keep wearing my mask everywhere and continue my personal zero COVID streak for as long as I can.

[-] someguy3@lemmy.world 5 points 20 hours ago

thus the overall rates will look better after that.

Better, but not zero. That's why your friend died. So all this stuff how immunity works, well this is how immunity works.

[-] Diva@lemmy.ml -1 points 20 hours ago

Yeah that's kinda my point is that it's not something that necessarily gets better with repeat exposure - and with comorbidities (like being fat) you can just straight up die even as a young person

[-] someguy3@lemmy.world 5 points 20 hours ago

You're confusing immunity with zero effects. That's not how it works.

[-] Diva@lemmy.ml -3 points 20 hours ago

I'm not, but thank you for informing me of your opinions

[-] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 4 points 21 hours ago

The issue I have is with only considering healthy people.

It isn't about considering only healthy people, it is about considering the entire population including the level of risk for the most vulnerable.

Do keep wearing a mask, that is a great idea on a personal level at this point in time. It was a great idea when trying to slow the spread before widespread vaccines, but we are past the point when widespread mask requirements would have a meaningful impact on the overall spread. Vaccines and immunity are what the vast majority of people should be following, since they are more effective than masks in that context.

[-] Diva@lemmy.ml -3 points 20 hours ago

Yeah, I'm getting all the shots too, the combination seems to work way better than just vaccines because all the people I know who stopped masking just keep getting it over and over regardless of the vaccine.

I'm sure it's more mild™ but I don't trust getting it either way.

[-] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.world 11 points 18 hours ago

We will never be zero COVID, but the pandemic crisis is over. Hospitals aren't overcrowded to the breaking point, the vaccines are pretty effective, and it's much less deadly. We're managing it like the flu. None of that was true under Trump.

[-] Diva@lemmy.ml 3 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

Yeah the passage of time sure is crazy.

I'm still masking regardless

[-] Phineaz@feddit.org 23 points 1 day ago

Because expunging an endemic disease is a hell of a lot of effort. Zero Covid didn't work (ask Winnie the Pooh), so most efforts were undertaken instead to weather the large amount of simultaneous harsh cases where patients required a ventilator and constant medical attention.

Would it be possible? Probably, but do you really want to convince Billions of people worldwide to regularly buy and use tests, masks and to distance where possible for a few years? I mean, I'm in Biotech, I'd live a fulfilled live employment-wise - if I don't get gunned down due to political violence that would ensue.

this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2024

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