My Blog Week: April 19 to April 25

A Word on the Week

Credentialing 

A brief word, because it’s been a difficult week to get things done.

Global death rates from COVID-19, according to the Reuters daily chart, are running at 7%. Which makes the disease a true plague. Maybe better statistics will change the proportion of infected/recovered/died. They may also reveal new numbers of hidden deaths. American deaths are above 54,000 as of today. Can we be rid of the amateur show, and do what would be useful in restoring confidence to the economy: convene a panel of medical professionals, disaster responders, logistics specialists; create and publish a plan, going step-by-step through the wrong choices of this year’s pandemic, recommending fixes for each problem, and giving an overview of next year’s counterattack, when Coronus comes back. You would think no government would care about, would resist, the “admitting of mistakes”. 

The disinfectant story, maybe the biggest of the week, offers an interesting sidelight, that I haven’t seen addressed. Follow the link to the video, and you’ll see a point in Trump’s remarks where, throwing all his comments at Dr. Birx, he talks about the studying of disinfectant matters, and says “medical doctors”. Emphasis on medical. Is he trying to exclude Dr. Birx from that designation? Could he think government officers are somehow not practitioners? Does he actually believe, as he’s indicated, that anyone with a good brain, who understands these things, is the equal of a medical doctor, merely an alternative doctor, so that either type of opinion is just as valid to consult?