Thread by @dcexaminer

OUR VIEW:

The fears of many public health officials are becoming true, as all indications are that the U.S. is in the midst of a brutal surge.

Unfortunately, the U.S. enters this season with the public health community having squandered its credibility.
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Early on, the American people were told that they had to go into lockdown for just a few weeks.

The purpose, everybody was told, was to “flatten the curve,” so there wasn’t a huge spike in cases at a given time that could collapse the medical system.

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The problem was that even after the curve had been flattened, and the medical system was in no way in danger, officials lobbied against efforts to reopen activity.
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"Flatten the curve" was replaced by some vague notion of returning to normal when things were "safe."

People have done without typical rituals from Memorial Day to July 4 to Labor Day.

washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editor…

In much of the nation, schools remain closed, despite the detrimental impact on children and families and the scant evidence that the virus poses a danger to either students or teachers or that schools have been a source of community spread.
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Public health officials, political leaders, and media figures have demonstrated hypocrisy.

Though they warned against large gatherings, they cheered Black Lives Matters protests and pro-Biden victory celebrations in large cities. washex.am/36JWl1T

Though they advocated stringent rules that shut down businesses and canceled weddings and funerals, Pelosi managed to get a maskless hair cut, and Newsom attended a birthday party for a lobbyist pal at the elite French Laundry in wine country.

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Given the credibility that has been shredded over the past eight months, leaders can probably count on a lot more civil disobedience in response to new lockdowns than they did in the spring.

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