Profile picture
, 8 tweets, 2 min read
My Authors
Read all threads
1. Trump keeps lying about *everything* related to Covid. Here's a handy guide showing his response to the pandemic has been a world-leading catastrophe

Total new cases, yesterday:
Spain: 3,092
France: 1,346
Japan: 1,323
Germany: 1,012
Canada: 513
UK: 880
Italy: 379

US: 70,904
2. No, it's not due to population. Here are those numbers, scaled up to a US population size of 328 million:

Spain: 21,582
France: 6,581
Japan: 3,426
Germany: 3,997
Canada: 4,473
UK: 4,330
Italy: 2,058

US: 70,904

The US is even 3.3x worse than the *worst* comparable country.
3. So, here is how much worse the US new case counts are, adjusted for population:

Spain: 3.3x
France: 10.7x
Japan: 20.7x
Germany: 17.7x
Canada: 15.9x
UK: 16.4x
Italy: 34.5x

Remember how Italy was the nightmare? There are now 34.5 US new cases for every Italian one.
4. No, it's not due to testing. The UK has done *more* testing than the US per capita. Spain has done about the same amount. Other countries, like Italy, now do fewer tests because there's not demand. (New Zealand, for example, does very few tests because NZ eliminated the virus)
5. No, it's not due to land area. Yes, the US is bigger. But lower population density *reduces* spread. Here's people per sq. mile:

Spain: 240
France: 319
Japan: 863
Germany: 603
Canada: 10
UK: 725
Italy: 518

US: 87

The US has a major advantage here, but way more new cases.
6. Trump systematically downplayed the threat of the virus, despite way more warning than most countries (notably those in Europe). But other countries had a full lockdown, stuck with it, didn't hawk unproven drugs, didn't politicize masks, didn't attack public health experts.
7. Other countries re-opened because the virus was largely contained. Some, like Spain, are now seeing increased case loads. Others, like the UK, are implementing local lockdowns or preventive measures to keep it contained. But many Republican-led parts of the US simply gave up.
8. I hope journalists who question Trump memorize these numbers and the comparisons. It's a disservice to public health that so many millions of Americans wrongly believe the current US Covid experience was inevitable. It wasn't. It was a choice made by an incompetent president.
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh.

Keep Current with Brian Klaas

Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @brianklaas see all

Profile picture
Brian Klaas
@brianklaas
Hello again, Mr. President. I co-wrote the book “How to Rig an Election,” so I know a bit about election rigging. Every claim in your tweet is a lie. Mail-in voting, also known as no-fault absentee voting, has long been a feature of US elections without issue. Stop lying.
The idea that there’s “no accurate count” is particularly ridiculous. The mail-in ballots are subject to the same scrutiny as in-person ballots. They can be part of recounts & audits (which, by the way, is impossible with some DRE electronic voting machines, which aren’t secure).
Foreign influence operations are a threat to US elections, but the much greater threats are 1) hacking/ information warfare ops; 2) trying to manipulate voter registration databases; 3) tampering with voting machines/digital tallies. It’s much harder to tamper with mail ballots.
Read 3 tweets
Profile picture
Brian Klaas
@brianklaas
1. For decades, Donald Trump has been openly racist. In politics, he has consistently behaved as a racist demagogue. So let’s take a trip down memory lane for those who aren’t aware of this glaring, basic fact about the Racist-in-Chief, and his record of anti-black bigotry.
2. Trump’s first mention in the New York Times was for an article in 1973 about his “alleged discrimination against blacks in apartment rentals.”
3. In 1989, Trump paid a reported $85,000 to place an ad calling to execute five Black boys known as the Central Park Five, who were innocent. The youngest was 15 when Trump called for the death penalty. In 2016, even after their DNA exoneration, Trump insisted on their guilt.
Read 14 tweets
Profile picture
Brian Klaas
@brianklaas
1. Some perspective for our lockdowns: In 1665, plague came to Eyam, a tiny village in Derbyshire, England. Flea-infested cloth arrived from London. The tailor’s assistant died soon after opening the parcel. At that point, Reverend William Mompesson did something extraordinary.
2. Church services were moved outdoors and social distancing was implemented. A stone was set at the village edge for food deliveries. Most astonishingly, the reverend ordered a village-wide quarantine. It wasn’t to save themselves; it was to save others. It was a death sentence.
3. The village locked down knowing they would die. Numbers differ, but between 54% and 77% of them died. But crucially, the village likely saved countless lives by stopping or slowing the spread into surrounding communities. Here’s the cottage where the outbreak started.
Read 5 tweets

Embed code for your website

×
Follow Us on Twitter!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!