Here’s President Donald Trump’s press conference on fighting the coronavirus:
Some takeaways:
- Vice President Mike Pence will lead the task force on fighting the virus.
- President Trump talks as though the he takes virus figures coming out of China at face value. That may be the right decision to avoid causing a panic, but I hope he doesn’t treat those figures as gospel, as most observers seem to feel the real numbers are 5-10x higher.
- America is rated the country best prepared for a pandemic.
- There are plans to address a larger nationwide outbreak “if needed.”
- Calls Nancy Pelosi incompetent.
A few other Coronavirus tidbits:
Add to this China’s history of similar incidents. Even the deadly SARS virus has escaped — twice — from the Beijing lab where it was — and probably is — being used in experiments. Both “man-made” epidemics were quickly contained, but neither would have happened at all if proper safety precautions had been taken.
And then there is this little-known fact: Some Chinese researchers are in the habit of selling their laboratory animals to street vendors after they have finished experimenting on them.
You heard me right.
Instead of properly disposing of infected animals by cremation, as the law requires, they sell them on the side to make a little extra cash. Or, in some cases, a lot of extra cash. One Beijing researcher, now in jail, made a million dollars selling his monkeys and rats on the live animal market, where they eventually wound up in someone’s stomach.
Stunning and disturbing. #COVID19 coronavirus compared to other virus outbreaks. pic.twitter.com/eoJRvZ1nOA
— Disclose.tv 🚨 (@disclosetv) February 21, 2020