Originally Posted by James Brown
Hi Patrick:
I seriously don't understand this line of thinking. The virus - mother nature in the raw - has us locked down. The federal response has been haphazard and incompetent at times, like all federal responses to calamities. It is highly unlikely in my opinion that any other president, even the best of them all (whomever one might believe that to be) would have led a response to a novel and deadly virus that had measurably better outcomes. The Biden administration certainly would not have. Those who refuse to wear masks and pandemic deniers would exist no matter who was president. Trump may have emboldened the rule breakers, but it is silly to think that everyone would have fallen in line under President Biden. Also, the virus was going to get it's share of pain and death even if everyone had fallen into line and scrupulously followed best practices.
It is a fantasy to think that a greater level of competence at the federal level would have eliminated this year of pain and death. At the very best, there might have been a slight but measurable decrease in infections and death, but I personally doubt it, and at what cost?
Meanwhile, the vaccines were developed in record time. The distribution proceeds pretty well in some states and less so in others, but that is the nature of a vast mobilization in a large and diverse country.
Meanwhile, the infection map, which I review every day has never looked better. Green states are those showing a decline in infections over the past two weeks. Your home state is an outlier, Any idea why the infections have skyrocketed in VA?
Anyway, the overall map has never looked this good. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/new-cases-50-states Look for a return to normalcy this summer or fall, no matter whether Biden, you, me, or nobody is president.
Jim
Former President Trump made it worse by discouraging the use of masks, attacking his own scientists, making a mockery of early lockdowns, and bumbling the rollout of the vaccines. No one would have held him accountable, just like we didn't hold W accountable for 9/11, if there was a coherent national response to the pandemic. He didn't make the virus or cause it to come here but he made the outcome worse. And for that he is responsible.
