Fla. can stop pretending the pandemic has ebbed

Nov. 4 happened, yet COVID-19 is still killing us.

“COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID. By theway, onNov. 4, you won’t hear about it anymore ,” President Trump declared last week, more than once, during his exuberant jammed-together, mask-spurning, superspreader rallies.

Instead, Nov. 4, theday after the national election, brought a brutal irony: 104,004new COVID-19 infections, a single-day record for the United States. The day brought 1,085 corona virus fatalities. Florida’ s election-day-plusone included 4,423 new cases and 32 more deaths.

But now that the most tumultuous presidential campaign in modern history has ended (except for the requisite litigation), we can finally consider the 233,767American lives lost to COVID-19 (17,131 in Florida) without the taint of politics. With the voting over, maybe our warring tribes can finally agree that we’re faced with a common threat— a killer pandemic that requires commonality of purpose.

It’s time for Americans toc ome together, thoughno closer than six feet.

If only the pandemichadstruck in a non-presidential-election year, Americans mighthave takenonthe challenge with an old-fashioned apolitical unity that could have averted the world’ s highest C OVID death toll. We might have been spared an election strategy inwhich disease prevention was rendered the most divisive issue in presidential politics.

With an election looming, President Trump acted as if the pandemic was more a public relations problem than a public health emergency. Political considerations warped the national response. The toughest decisions were foisted onto governors and mayors.

The president tried to convince the electorate that COVID-19 was no more serious than the seasonal flu. He used his office to promote unproven therapies and crackpot cures. Yet, when Trump himself contracted the coronavirus himself last month, his physicians did not include hydroxy chloroquine—a drug he had relentless promoted— inhis treatment regime.

The president was slow to acknowledge that a lockdown could slow the spread of the virus and quick to push for a return to a kind of faux normalcy. When his administration’s renown epidemiologists contradicted his unscientific pronouncements, Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx were shunted aside.

Trump elevated Scott Atlas, a neuro-radiologist with no expertise in epidemiology who promoted a controversial herdimmunity strategy, to serve as his de facto chief medical advisor. Because Atlas’s medical heterodoxy complemented Trump’ s forget-the-pandemic re-election strategy.

Trump repeatedly assured worried Americans that a vaccine would be available“very soon, maybe even before a very special date. You know what date I’ m talking about .” Apparently, the very special date was not Nov .4.

The campaigning Trump constantly flouted his own administration’ s guidelines to curb human-to-human transmission. He presided bare faced over rallies of close-packed, maskless MA GA followers—more herd mentality than herd immunity. Don’ t forget the Sept .26 Rose Garden gathering to honor Supreme Court nominee Amy Cone y Barrett, when Republican dignitaries mingled in close proximity, many without bothering to don masks.

Dr. F au ci called it a“super-spreader event .” Indeed, at least seven of the attendees, including two U.S. senator sand former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, subsequently tested positive.

When Trump campaigned in Florida, Gov. Ron De San tis served as his great enabler, accompanying the president on C OVID-oblivious campaign stops. Remember that video of the bare-faced De San tis high-f iv ing his way through a Trump rally at Sanford last month? Trump mocked reporters, even Joe Bid en, for wearing protective masks. It was as if the Centers for Disease Control’ s disease-prevention guidelines didn’ t apply to high-ranking public officials.

De San tis embraced Trump’ s desperate strategy to convince voters that it was safe to return to their pr e-pandemic lifestyle. The governor coerced school districts into resuming in-classroom teaching. He canceled all state-ordered corona virus restrictions( surprising local officials and the state’ s medical establishment ). He criticized state universities for expelling students who defied restrictions against parties and other large gatherings .“That’ s what college kidsdo,” hesaid.

And now, we’ re paying for the politically driven pretense that the danger had receded. You can trace the fast-coming second surge by the infected players missing from your favorite pro or college football team. Dr. Fauciwarned that worse days are coming :“It’ s not a good situation. All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating at home indoors. You could not possibly be positioned more poorly .”

F au ci warned that Americans must make an “abrupt change” in our collective disregard of life saving public health precautions.

With the election over, the president, the governor, local leaders— allofus, regard less of political affiliation—can stop pretending otherwise.