“One doesn’t blame an individual for their health conditions, that would be absurd.”
Azar’s attempt to put a positive spin on what has been a catastrophic response is unpersuasive, but he’s not saying what he’s taking shit for saying. 1/
Azar’s attempt to put a positive spin on what has been a catastrophic response is unpersuasive, but he’s not saying what he’s taking shit for saying. 1/
It’s not false to point out that things like an aging demographic or a high prevalence of comorbidities leaves a population vulnerable to a high mortality rate should infection become widespread. 2/
But that’s just a way of saying, for some countries *the stakes of the policy response* are predictably higher than others. Age is the main comorbidity, yet demographically elderly Germany has managed a much lower mortality rate than the US has. 3/
For the US, widespread “comorbidities” reflect chronic failures in public health policy. Those are news to no one. The stakes of this crisis were higher in the US than they might have been for a healthier hypothetical country. 4/
The stakes were high. The administration failed to meet them, and the outcome has been catastrophic. Yes, the job was harder than it might have been some elsewhere, but other difficult elsewheres, like Germany, rose to the challenge. 5/
Azar is not saying anyone had it coming, that’s unfair. Grading on the steep curve of this administration‘s entourage, Azar personally probably gets high marks. 6/
But the Grim Reaper, alas, is old school. He does not grade on a curve. There’s no spinning almost 90,000 reaped and no end in sight, after months of denial when acting even a day earlier could have saved tens of thousands. /fin
