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Originally Posted by OccultHawk
I’m not sure what to make of it. The description of it and governments reaction to it seem misaligned. I’m not drawing any conspiracy conclusions but it seems like it would have to be more dreadful than they’re saying for China to cut off that much industry. idk
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^ Trump and White House are downplaying it for economic reasons and because they'll prob be caught out for all the staff and spending cuts they've made to the agencies that co-ordinate the US national defense to these kinds of epidemics. Or as CNN explains it:-
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Since the dawn of the Trump presidency, countless experts have warned that the president's lack of credibility would imperil the country in the event of an emergency. With the worsening coronavirus outbreak, those fears may be coming true.
President Trump's political allies have made overly optimistic statements only to be contradicted by the government's top scientists and doctors. For example, Trump claimed on Monday that the coronavirus was "very much under control in the USA." A day later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the virus' spread to the US was inevitable. He said the stock market is "starting to look very good" even as the Dow was nosediving amid coronavirus anxiety.
And the president has been blaming the media for this predicament, reverting to the same tactics that he has employed ever since taking office.
On Wednesday, in a widely-criticized tweet, he claimed that CNN and MSNBC "are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible."
President Trump has systematically ... engaged in what several columnists have called a "war on expertise." "Trump's disdain for science and his cuts to science and public health programs have subverted preparedness for emergencies like the coronavirus," said Michiko Kakutani, the famous literary critic and author of "The Death of Truth."
The President's lies have given the public ample reason to distrust what he says -- and this has negatively affected perceptions of his administration as a whole. Ultimately, Kakutani said, Trump's free-flowing falsehoods undermine the credibility of the government leaving the public unsure of who or what to trust.
"Truth and an informed public are essential to the functioning of a democracy -- and essential, too, for a practical and reasoned response to an emergency," she said.
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On the coronavirus, an expert said it's a question of "when" not "if" it arrives - so I'd say yes, get a mask and a bit of extra food - and when Trump trots out some graphic that he's marked up with a Sharpie pen, don't believe it.