President Donald Trump isn’t the only one branding the press purveyors of fake news. Last week saw Dr. Deborah Birx, the response coordinator for the federal Coronavirus Task Force, also chastising the media for peddling false narratives.
“Please, for the reassurance of people around the world,” Birx begged the reporters at Thursday’s press briefing, stop “talking about creating DNR situations, Do Not Resuscitate situations for patients. There is no situation in the United States right now that warrants that kind of discussion.”
There is no evidence, Birx continued, that when Americans “need a hospital bed it’s not going to be there or a ventilator, it’s not going to be there.” To the contrary, “we are reassured in meeting with our colleagues in New York that there are still I.C.U. beds remaining and still significant—over 1,000 or 2,000 ventilators that have not been utilized.”
Birx’s plea followed a Washington Post story headlined “Hospitals Consider Universal Do-Not-Resuscitate Orders for Coronavirus.” The Post’s article detailed conversations reportedly taking place at hospitals throughout the country, including at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, where doctors have been discussing “a do-not-resuscitate policy for infected patients, regardless of the wishes of the patient or their family members — a wrenching decision to prioritize the lives of the many over the one.”
The article further claimed that these “new protocols are part of a larger rationing of lifesaving procedures and equipment — including ventilators — that is quickly becoming a reality here as in other parts of the world battling the virus.”
The media, however, ignored Birx’s reprimand, with CNN reporting a few hours later that “as the coronavirus pandemic continues to sweep the United States, some hospitals are considering whether to make changes to policies and practices when it comes to do-not-resuscitate situations.” “Such conversations come as hospitals brace for a surge of patients,” the article continued, “despite dwindling supplies of personal protective equipment for doctors and ventilators for seriously ill patients.”
CNN’s top personality, Jake Tapper, further pushed the storyline by retweeting a Detroit article that included an internal letter from the Henry Ford Health Group discussing a protocol for handling an overwhelmed health-care system. Tapper quoted several panic-inducing passages from the letter, including one that claimed that “because of shortages, we will need to be careful with resources. Patients who have the best chance of getting better are our first priority.”
After the leaked letter went viral on Twitter, the Henry Ford Health Group issued a statement, as the Detroit News reported, assuring the public that the “letter was in preparation for a ‘worst case scenario,’ but has not been enacted as policy.” The Henry Ford Health Group stressed that its “hospital system has not reached capacity at any of its locations, nor has it reached the limit on ventilators at any of its hospitals.”
Dr. Adnan Munkarah, the chief clinical officer for the hospital system, likewise attested that they “have by no means exhausted all of our resources or all of our options to take care of patients,” and that “the hospital system has an adequate supply of ventilators.”
While Tapper later retweeted the Detroit News article, the damage had already been done. The fake news story of overrun hospitals leaving patients to die had already infected the public’s perception of the situation on the ground in Michigan. This viral story launched not even 24 hours after Birx gently reminded the press that “it’s our job collectively to assure the American people,” and following her assurances the narrative that hospitals didn’t have enough ventilators to treat their patients was false.
During Thursday’s press briefing, Birx also cautioned the press about peddling false figures on levels of coronavirus infection and death based on models. “Models are models,” she told the press corps, adding that “there is enough data of the real experience with the coronavirus on the ground to really make these predictions much, more sound.”
“So, when people start talking about 20 percent of a population getting infected, it’s very scary,” Dr. Birx noted, “but we don’t have data that matches that based on our experience.” She also stressed that the on-the-ground reality, and the institution of preventative measures, negates the Imperial College model’s worst-case-scenario prediction of 2.2 million deaths from the coronavirus in the United States.
Whether the media will continue to run with such wild extrapolations remains to be seen. But given the press’s penchant for pushing figures without support to score political points, it seems likely.
Given that the media immediately ignored Birx’s plea to report responsibly and not unnecessarily frighten the public, and instead peddled an apocryphal tale of Michigan hospitals leaving patients to die, it seems likely that something more than the good doctor’s scalpel-like dissection of the false reporting is needed. Trump learned that long ago, which is why the president instead wields a fake news hatchet.
via thefederalist
Changeing of time,when i was young,,1970s,early 80s it was known that used car salesmen were bold faced liers..fastforward 35-40 year they have been either joined,or replaced by the great media..both peddeling lies to sell something that wont hold water after you buy it..sooo when is the news liable like goverment made usecar salemen..?? I think the time has arrived.d
The media is full of people that are already DNR. Daily Not Reliable.
There is so much disinformation about the Wuhan Virus the demonrat media is pushing only in an effort to disparage Trump. If you track what they were saying when the virus was first known, to what they are saying now, you’d come to that conclusion.
Strictly looking at the sheer numbers, America is in better shape than any other nation facing the ‘pandemic’. And also, strictly looking at the numbers, this version of influenza is less deadly that the old influenza viruses already established on this continent. We have several versions dating back to the Spanish Flu 100 year ago that have mutated; infecting millions, and killing thousands every year.
Depending upon how well you live, you stand a chance of dying more from the common cold and flu. The evil media have not mentioned one thing about the common flu death numbers.
The CDC posts approximately 90% of those tested for COVID-19 do not have it. They came in presenting symptoms that turned out to be a cold or flu, or simple seasonal allergies.
The government response to Wuhan Virus is a tailwind reaction to fears fanned by the illicit media, and their disgusting hate and disrespect of the man sitting in the oval office. Never in our nation’s history have there been such unpatriotic attitudes for the office, let alone who is occupying it. Just a few years ago, it would be considered treasonous to speak so disparagingly about a sitting President.
And, I still think the Wuhan Virus is another effort by the deep state to get rid of Trump. The CIA is capable or orchestrating such an evil plot, and it has come to light they were working with foreign nations to unseat Trump.
The demonrats are encouraging their minions to be disrespectful and cause chaos like spoiled children having temper-tantrums until they get their way. They’ve told their minions they will lose all their perverted freedoms if they allow Trump to stay in office.
We have elected officials speaking openly about the President as though he were a common criminal, and refusing to recognize his election just because they lost. They are more concerned about their power than their constituency. They twist his words into something completely different, and flatly refuse the truth even when irrefutable evidence is presented.
They have an agenda to reshape America into a socialist communist nation, as proven positive of what Pelosi just did with the Virus Relief bill. She held up the bill only because she could, and held it as leverage. All the socialist and non-virus ‘pork’ she still managed to sneak into the bill is disgusting. But it doesn’t matter, as she said on national TV, “if we have to give in to their demands, we should get something too”. Her heartlessness is chilling. What’s scary is her constituency most likely will re-elect her.
The demonrats have stubbornly stuck to their own narrative with one mindset; that of removing the President from office at any cost, even if it means scaring the whole country to death and ruining the economy.
The benefit of the ‘virus shut-down’ for them is – they can experience an ‘exercise’ of the measures of control the communist countries normally use; to see just how far they can go when they regain power. They intend to force America away from a constitutionalist nation. They NEED a compliant constituency to do it. The virus shutdown is simply Martial Law under a different name.
It’s sad that our society has devolved into a nation of dependents, who can’t take care of themselves.
People face influenza EVERY spring, as winter subsides (pollen-season for most). Cognitive people know there is a risk of getting sick EVERY year. It only takes a few commonly known precautions to AVOID getting sick.
Eat right and get plenty of rest. Clean your house. Wash your hands like you have OCD, and don’t touch your face. Don’t congregate in close quarters with others until the season is over. If you have a immunodeficiency, STAY indoors.
Affirmative GerryG…Democrats are like the carpetbagger making a sale on Snake Oil.