Over the last few days, a few glimmers of hope have emerged amid our current national nightmare, the biggest one being: Thanks to extreme social distancing and other highly restrictive measures, health experts believe the estimate of 240,000 deaths in the U.S. from coronavirus might actually come out closer to 60,000. Rational adults likely took this news with cautious optimism, fully aware of the fact that (1) 60,000 people is still a lot, and (2) the new prediction does not mean that we should speed up the timeline for getting back to regular life, particularly in light of the fact that there may be a second and third wave of the virus. And then you have Donald Trump, whose brain seemingly stopped developing around the age of 11.
In his daily press conference on Friday, held shortly after the New York Times reported that government projections indicated lifting restrictions after only 30 days “will lead to a dramatic infection spike this summer and death tolls that would rival doing nothing, government projections indicate,” Trump offered his typical unscientific, from-the-gut, completely nonsense take. While acknowledging that opening up the country might lead to death, he added: “Staying at home leads to death also. And it’s very traumatic for this country. Staying at home, if you look at numbers, that leads to a different kind of death, perhaps, but it leads to death also.”
It’s not clear what kind of “different” death Trump is talking about here. While mental health experts have expressed concern about the anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder some people will experience as a result of the pandemic, which, in some cases, could potentially lead to suicide, mass deaths nationwide would presumably also take a toll on people’s state of mind. Earlier this week, Trump supporters Diamond and Silk had their twitter account locked for spreading the ridiculous misinformation that “quarantining people inside of their houses for extended periods” of time will make them sick, and that “the only way we can become immune to the environment” is by being “out in the environment.”
Asked about the need for comprehensive testing, which experts believe is the only way to safely allow people to get back to work and regular life, Trump claimed there’s no need for it in certain places, which of course is categorically false.
So, how will Trump make the call re: when it’s reasonable to lift the measures that have helped slow the deadly virus?
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