One more thing about COVID-19 before I get to work on my pitifully fucking neglected book: thanks to budget cuts and currently vacant positions, it’s impossible to overstate how much worse Republicans have potentially made this in almost every conceivable way.
In 2018, the CDC was forced by the Trump administration to cut its global epidemic prevention funding by 80%. One of the countries they deprioritized was China. washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-h…
In part in response to the Ebola outbreak, Obama set up a permanent pandemic-focused group in the NSC. Trump fires all of them and dissolved the group, probably because it’s a thing Obama did. Nothing has replaced it. foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/31/cor…
Remember H1N1? Partly in response to that, the US Agency for International Development established a program to track potential epidemics called Predict.
Trump canceled it this past October. vox.com/future-perfect…
Trump canceled it this past October. vox.com/future-perfect…
You know how some states haven’t expanded Medicare? People without health insurance or with poor insurance tend, for obvious reasons, to delay or entirely avoid seeking treatment for illnesses.
Medicaid*. I lose track of which it is to be honest.
ANYHOO, it’s worth noting that the symptoms of COVID-19 very closely resemble the flu for most people. So many people are likely to assume that’s what it is and take no extra precautions.
ANYHOO, it’s worth noting that the symptoms of COVID-19 very closely resemble the flu for most people. So many people are likely to assume that’s what it is and take no extra precautions.
So the uninsured or underinsured won’t go to the doctor or get tested (guess what: right now only three states have COVID-19 tests that work). Even if they do get very sick.
But hey, socialized medicine is evil.
But hey, socialized medicine is evil.
Republicans *live* to cut or eliminate just about everything we have that would make something like COVID-19 more containable and less dangerous, and easier to fight in the countries where it appears before it gets to us. Literally it’s their sexual orientation.
And it’s not like no one has warned them. They just don’t care, and that’s actually the most charitable interpretation of their behavior. At this point I’m calling them a death cult, because the effects are the same.
They’re complaining about COVID-19 being “weaponized” against them. Well, it *should* be, because it’s probably in part their fault it’s as bad as it is and is likely going to get worse.
They’re trying to kill you. Vote them all out.
They’re trying to kill you. Vote them all out.
