This is a good way to guarantee the economy stays flat, giving people no confidence in your leadership:
He called the question on Tuesday that prompted him to make the 5m tests goal remark a “media trap,” a new phrase he uses to describe reporters’ questions that he answers and gets himself into political hot water.
“I didn’t say it,” the president said – falsely. “Where did it … come from? … It’s sort of a setup.”
“We’re going to be there very soon … We’re really doing … a great job on testing,” the president told reporters following an event at the White House when asked if the US could get to 5m tests a day.
That Yahoo reporter. In two seconds I can see that the US is about 40th on the list of number of tests per million at 18,000. Behind countries like Russia and Canada and way, way behind countries like Iceland (139,000), Bahrain (74,000), and Luxumbourg (66,000).
Should have said more- was being an asshole, not for the first time. States such as Texas which have limited settlements have not shown any cutting of the cost curve.
Lawsuits are an added expense, but not that much. American health expenses are much higher than elsewhere because it is a profit-driven business- there are more players involved, such as hospitals, insurance companies etc- but also because individual players gert paid more.
That’s why solutions such as Bernie’s Medicare4All would not bring the cost down for another generation. For example, doctors make much more in the States than elsewhere, but they have the added expense of much higher student loans, expense of running what is essentially a small business- billing, debt collection etc.
While Democrats and scientists have cautioned against such reopenings, Iowa’s furloughed workers in those industries won’t have much of a choice come Friday. According to the Des Moines Register, workers without a valid excuse for returning to work when called back will lose their unemployment benefits. Texas is reportedly considering instituting a similar requirement — mandating a choice that no employee should have to make during a pandemic.
Fearing that you will die due to a pandemic is not considered a valid excuse.
I might be thinking of something else, but didn’t the Yahoo reporter ask about US vs South Korea? As I remember it from the video, the reporter said that South Korea had done more tests per capita than the US, but it actually seems to be the other way around according to Worldometer (18k vs 12k per million). Trump’s comments seemed a bit ridiculous, but his point seems correct?
Yes, the reporter was wrong. But with so many other countries to use as comparison (again the US is about 40th on the list), why use South Korea? I imagine he was using old information.
Around mid to late March, when COVID-19 exploded around Europe and the US, South Korea was the gold standard in providing accessible testing to the masses. They were the first country already in the boom stage to flatten the curve. However, now the situation is under control, there is less of a need for testing, and other countries caught up.
So really the question should be about comparing the number of testing during the initial stages of the outbreak.
Very good point. So the reporter was right, really, if you twists things around a bit the way Trump does. I think this is what the reporter meant. He should state as much publicly.
Comparisons between countries can be useful, up to a point. You also need to take into account the size of the countries, in terms of population and geography, and the characteristics of the outbreaks. Like countries and situations make for more useful comparisons.
The US has over six times as many people as South Korea spread across a huge, much larger geographic area. The US faced multiple large, distinct outbreaks in major cities, not a single large outbreak. In South Korea, the outbreak in a single city, Daegu, accounted for over three-quarters of the entire country’s cases at the peak.
The Yahoo reporter’s question didn’t seem all that informed to me. He seemed far more interested in making a political point.
Have you watched the press briefings? A majority of the questions are designed to make a political point or to piss off Trump, not to glean information or inform the public.
