A Big Red Flag

"Whoever controls the data is in the driver's seat. They have the power"

Dr. Christopher Ohl, a professor of infectious diseases at Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (to NBC News).

It is an interesting turn of events. We learned that Dr. Anthony Fauci hasn’t briefed the President since early June. It does seem as if medical experts and the hard numbers themselves have become inconvenient truths to the Trump Administration and its unrelenting press to reopen schools, churches, parks and recreation venues and businesses with few if any restrictions. Get the economy whirling so Trump can use that to get reelected. Who cares who dies? 

We just watched as GOP Georgia Governor and Trump supporter, Brian Kemp, issue an executive order (which may or may not be lawful under even Georgia law) that countermanded mask and distancing requirements imposed by the mayors of several of that state’s biggest cities. “Georgia Gov. Brain Kemp is suing the Atlanta City Council and Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms following her efforts to require face masks in public places as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to skyrocket across the nation. 

“The lawsuit, filed Thursday [7/16], asserts that Kemp alone, ‘leads the State of Georgia in its fight against the worldwide novel coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic’ and adds he has the power ‘to suspend municipal orders that are contradictory to any state law or to his executive orders.’" NPR, July 16th. That Georgia is experiencing the largest surge in COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, out of control, appears to be irrelevant. Oh, this also includes the busiest airport in the United States: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, a major Delta hub. And all of the nursing homes, where the elderly have been dying from CV-19 in record numbers. 

Indeed, picking apart trusted medical experts seems to be high on the agenda of both the Trump administration and its cronies. “Trump’s trade advisor, Peter Navarro, slammed Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert… Fauci ‘has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on,’ Navarro said in his column in USA Today, which appeared online Tuesday night [7/14].” Los Angeles Times, July 16th. His was not the only White House voice questioning Fauci’s integrity. And while the official White House line on Navarro’s remark states he did not clear his statement through normal White House channels, insiders suggest Navarro was encouraged to issue that statement by the President himself. 

“The attacks are almost certainly counterproductive, said David Axelrod, a former strategist for President Obama… ‘There isn’t anyone in their right mind who would say this is a smart strategy in the middle of an exploding pandemic — ‘Let’s wage war on Tony Fauci!’ ’ Axelrod said. ‘In no rational world does that make sense.’ 

“Fauci maintains a much higher level of public trust than Trump. The latest nationwide poll from Quinnipiac University, released Wednesday, found that by 65% to 26%, voters said they trusted information from Fauci about the coronavirus. Conversely, by 67% to 30%, they said they did not trust information from Trump… Reflecting poll numbers of that sort, some Republicans in Congress have made it clear they don’t support efforts to undermine Fauci, who has served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984.” LA Times. 

There seems to be an increasing “credibility distancing” depending on who dispenses the relevant information about the infection and mortality rates on the novel coronavirus. Politicians and press spin-masters have continuously falling credibility, while educated professionals – epidemiologists and medical doctors (academic and government bureaucrats) – score high. But those damned statistics; they keep reminding everyone how dramatically Trump and friends have failed. If only there were a way to suppress that information, or at least cleanse the results to jibe with Trump’s erroneous projections. Ah, but wait, there just might be. 

What would happen if you simply took away the right of those government bureaucrats, who are legally mandated to provide the best information to the taxpayers that they can, to receive and dispense those numbers in the first place? What if you could divert those numbers to political appointees instead, folks who know how to spin, distort and manipulate instead? Who can decide how (if?) the public should be fully informed? Well, now you can! 

“The Trump administration has taken control of COVID-19 data in the United States, leaving public health experts gravely concerned about whether anyone outside the administration will be able to access the vital information moving forward… Such data is critical for health systems to plan for necessary resources and coordinate efforts, particularly during a pandemic…. ‘I'm concerned that we'll only get what their analyses and conclusions are, and there won't be any way to corroborate it,’ [Infectious disease Professor and Doctor Christopher] Ohl said. 

“Late Tuesday [7/14], a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed that hospitals are now required to submit information on COVID-19 patients directly to HHS, rather than through a longstanding reporting system via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention… ‘The new faster and complete data system is what our nation needs to defeat the coronavirus and the CDC, an operating division of HHS, will certainly participate in this streamlined all-of-government response,’ said Michael Caputo, HHS' assistant secretary for public affairs. ‘They will simply no longer control it.’ 

“Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the CDC, said Wednesday [7/15] that the agency will still play a role within the new reporting system… Jennifer Nuzzo, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said: ‘I fully support an effort to try to improve upon existing approaches. That said, I have deep worries about switching it up in the middle of a crisis, particularly if it means sidelining the CDC.’00 PHOTOS 

“José Arrieta, HHS' chief information officer, said the agency is ‘exploring the best way to make this information available to the public,’ but he and Redfield declined to offer a timeline… Nuzzo said: ‘For the data to be valuable, it needs to be trusted. And that's really where transparency comes into play. People have to be able to scrutinize the data to understand the process by which they are generated and be able to see the strengths and weaknesses.’Ohl said the previous reporting system within the CDC, called the National Health Safety Network, has been in operation for years. ‘All of the kinks are worked out,’ he said. ‘It's reliable, sound, unbiased.’… Ohl said such a change is unprecedented, adding, ‘It just doesn't make sense.’” NBC News, July 16th. Makes lots of sense… if your goal is to repress the truth. It’s Mr. Trump’s pandemic now.

            I’m Peter Dekom, and this is Trump on steroids bringing his fact-distortion practices to the most vital information Americans need to survive.