Americans are incurable optimists. For the sake of our nation and the general public good, it was devoutly to be hoped that the current CIC might possibly have learned the tiniest fragment lesson of wisdom from the first 30 days of his delayed and grudging response to COVID-19, as it spread like wildfire across this great land we all love and share. As if.
So here we are 30 days after easing up on written criticism of his continued foolishness and malfeasance in office with things only getting worse. The incompetence and lies pile up, and now today we have confirmation of a breach among the senior staff in the White House (Pence’s Press Secretary, Stephen Miller’s wife) who is infected. As Trump.45 explained, as if stunned, first she was negative and then all of a sudden she was positive. Like, that’s how it goes, Bro. First you’re negative, and then you’re positive. You expected a special Twitter notice?
How about the contact tracing on that case, added to the Presidential valet’s positive test from a couple days ago. That damn virus is sneaking in everywhere. And 11 Secret Service agents at the White House are now positive. Where is it coming from?
We all know that Trump craves the accolades and public credit for being Number One in all things large and small, no matter how petty. He frequently is dream thwarted by the dead weight of stubborn facts, but he persists.
In one major respect just now, he has succeeded beyond imagining. The entire country is burdened with his latest nonpareil achievement, The Trump Avoidable Pandemic 2020. That is TAP2020 in shorthand. Older readers will remember the TARP Act of 2008-2009 vintage, also something of an economic achievement of note.
But back to the Trump Pandemic we are all in the middle of. As of this afternoon the US has been blessed with 1.28 million casualties due to Coronavirus infections, and more than 77,000 deaths in just 10 short weeks.
That is more total casualties than suffered by our country in any US foreign war in history (240 years) no matter how long they lasted, and more deaths than in Viet Nam or Korea. All in 10 weeks. The light speed of his failure is quite simply breathtaking and incomparable.
But that is not the scale of his Number Oneness. On a planet inhabited by 7.79 billionsouls of whom just 331 million (4.25%) are American, we are far and away the world’s champion among all nations for incident cases, current cases, new cases, total deaths, new deaths, etc. Even among the countries first hit hard in January and February before the US was vastly affected by its foot dragging and failure to respond seriously to a pending public health crisis because Trump didn’t like the Optics.
Here is a daily scorecard of summary data from Worldometer of the Top 21 countries worldwide, all of which have recorded at least 25,000 cases. The USA stands alone at the top. It is so far ahead that it has more cases than the next six most heavily affected countries combined (Spain, Italy, UK, Russia, France, and Germany). Likewise, with total deaths so far it has more than double the totals of the next three highest countries (Spain, Italy, and UK). But those numbers are stale and do not indicate the enlarging scope of the problem.
To get a better picture we need to look at the pattern of new cases and new deaths each day to appreciate the living breathing scope of the invader marauding in our world. Here again the US is undisputed King of the Hill. In this data view we have two new major players recently added to the Big Leagues, Russia and Brazil; also headed by denier Heads of State who pooh-poohed the power of a Little Bitty Virus challenge to their respective senses of manhood. Sound familiar?
For new cases the US has nearly three times as many in one day as Russia, and more than three times as many as Brazil, not to mention more than the totals of old champs Spain, Italy, UK, France, Germany, Turkey, Iran, Canada, and Peru combined.
As for new deaths (reported last 24 hours) The US Tops out big again. Ten times more than Spain; eight times more than Italy; four times more than UK, and more than three times higher than Brazil, one of the two new hottest players on the tragic world stage.
One possible bright spot is to examine the percentage of total infections who have recovered, a surrogate measure of the maturity of the pandemic spread in each country, and whether the outbreak is coming under control. Here is an extended version of the Worldometer chart with some new calculations to enhance understanding. In terms of recovery the US is behind the World Average, and logs in at a woeful 17%, showing the pandemic is not slowing here but still on a rapid run. Compare the results with Italy, Spain, France, and Germany. The only big players in the same category as the US is Russia, and probably the UK which doesn’t report the numbers.
A corollary to this is then that the US also leads the world by far in the total number of still active infections, from which future deaths, hospital costs, and economic disruptions will naturally flow. The US has roughly the same number of total active cases as the next 8 highest countries added together.
Finally, the most precise inspection is not only to the total absolute numbers of cases and deaths, but also the daily population adjusted rates to allow for per capita comparisons. Here too the US does not fare well, though it is not the absolute worst.
Among the top 10 Countries affected, only Russia and Brazil have a significantly greater daily case percentage increase than the US, and only UK is close. The other main European countries hardest hit now have daily increases of 1.5% or less. As for daily death percentage increases, the US at 2.8% is nearly double all the other major countries except Russia (5.4%) and Brazil (6.5%).
One weak tea justification for how well the Administration is coping is the endlessly repeated canard by Trump.45 that the US is far and away testing more than anywhere else. Not so. Testing must be compared on a per capita basis to be relevant to assessment of public health control. Here the simple fact is that the US ranks Number 9 in the World. Even backward, late to the game Russia has tested 25% more of its population per capita than the US.
There isn’t even a Participation Trophy for finishing ninth in the World in a serious competition, Mr. Trump. All your hoping and wishing don’t make it so. Facts are Stubborn Things.
The US is First in all the World in Bad Things, and Out of the Running for Small Hopeful Signs in the Coronavirus 2019 Worldwide Pandemic , better known in our country as Trump’s Avoidable Pandemic 2020 (TAP2020).
Thank you, Mr. President. Heck of a Job, Donnie!
With Trump actively discouraging the social distancing that has partially saved us so far, do you want to bet what the next 30 days will be like, stat wise? Don’t hold your breath. Even the persistently optimistic Models the White House has touted (IHME) have recently been revised upward to predict 135,000 deaths by August 4; and other careful models estimate significantly higher numbers above 160,000 in the near term.
What a Record for the Ages that could be for TAP2020 World History!
Legacy, Man.
