(May 12, 2020) Christiane Amanpour, CNN, speaks with New York Times health and science reporter Donald G. McNeil, Jr. about Anthony Fauci’s Senate appearance and the U.S. response to coronavirus.  Source: CNN Link to online video

McNeil is one of the best journalists in the U.S. covering the virus crisis. This video, about 15 minutes long, is well worth your time as a reality check to all the politics that you may be encountering online in social media.  Truth matters.

Update 05/13/20: In a statement to the Hill, a conservative online news site, the New York Times said that McNeil “went too far” in his interview on CNN in calling for the resignation of the Director of the Centers for Disease Control. The newspaper said he should not have added a personal opinion to the TV interview.

However, the spokesperson added. “We are confident that his reporting on science and medicine for The Times has been scrupulously fair and accurate.”

Did Obama Prepare for a Pandemic?
Yes, But Trump tore up the playbook and fired the coach

Also, it is a lie, promoted by President Trump and echoed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, that the Obama Administration did nothing to deal with a pandemic.

Obama gave the incoming administration a 69 page playbook of how to deal with one. Trump ignored it and fired the staff on the National Security Council that knew about the document and how to use it. (CNN Fact Check)

McConnell Retracts False Statement About Obama’s Pandemic Playbook

Update 05/14/20 – Senate Majority Leaders Mitch McConnell said he was wrong on the issue of the Obama pandemic playbook. He told Fox News he was mistaken in claiming that the previous administration had failed to leave guidance for the Trump White House.

“I was wrong,” McConnell said in an evening interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier. “They did leave behind a plan. So, I clearly made a mistake in that regard.”

POLITICO reported in March the existence of a document, written by Obama officials that laid out how the incoming Trump administration should respond if faced with a pandemic.

The 69-page document contained hundreds of recommendations for dealing with many of the problems plaguing the nation’s coronavirus response — from shortages of personal protective equipment to the need for unified public guidance on the crisis.

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Write to your elected officials to put science front and center in decision making about how to deal with the virus.

Ask them to follow the example of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and State Health Director Amy Acton, MD. Reason, and no magical thinking, will keep people alive.

These two will go down in the history books as leaders who are working to save lives. This video below appeared online earlier this month as a “thank you” for their efforts.

Link to video here on YouTube

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