Paging Dr. Fauci!
Donald Trump has stated that perhaps the direct administration of disinfectants to the lungs might cure the coronavirus. The administration then walked that back and stated they did not suggest people drink bleach, although some local officials believed it necessary to advise Americans not to try such treatments. Those warnings took place after some did in fact ingest various household products. But what does appear to be happening is the bleaching of the issue by those in authority and in the administration who should know better.
The initial statement by Trump at a press briefing was: “And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that, so that you’re going to have to use medical doctors with, but it sounds interesting to me. So, we’ll see, but the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute. That’s pretty powerful.”
If you watch the Sunday shows with various talking heads, you will continue to see those in the administration continue to downplay the pandemic and the harm it can do. This week’s talking head was Admiral Giroir, Assistant Secretary for Health at HHS. On Sunday, he said about Dr. Anthony Fauci, who seems to be the most objective medical person in this administration, that: “And I respect Dr. Fauci a lot, but Dr. Fauci is not 100% right and he also doesn’t necessarily, and he admits that, have the whole national interest in mind. He looks at it from a very narrow public health point of view. But let me just say there is absolutely open discourse.”
Giroir and the administration continue to deny reality and push for full reopening of everything, including schools, despite the reality that the reproduction rate of the coronavirus is above 1.0 in all but seven states, and that is not the way the pandemic should be trending.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.