President Donald Trump has consistently failed to inspire confidence in his handling of the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak. In fact, he can’t even be bothered to stop deriding coverage of the negative aspects of the situation as a supposed hoax and supposed conspiracy to make him look bad. Former President Barack Obama is now stepping up to help pick up the slack. This Wednesday on Twitter, he shared a message of help and reassurance as confirmed Coronavirus cases and deaths from the disease both slowly but surely rise in the U.S.
He addressed issues including the surge in purchases of the supplies like medical masks that has been reported. Obama tweeted:
‘Protect yourself and your community from coronavirus with common sense precautions: wash your hands, stay home when sick and listen to the @CDCgov and local health authorities. Save the masks for health care workers. Let’s stay calm, listen to the experts, and follow the science.’
Protect yourself and your community from coronavirus with common sense precautions: wash your hands, stay home when sick and listen to the @CDCgov and local health authorities. Save the masks for health care workers. Let’s stay calm, listen to the experts, and follow the science.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 4, 2020
Contrast that with nonsense like Trump’s Twitter post:
‘Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & @CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible. Likewise their incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk, no action. USA in great shape!’
Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & @CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible. Likewise their incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk, no action. USA in great shape! @CDCgov…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 26, 2020
Health officials like current U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams have been sharing similar exhortations to what Obama posted. Surgical and medical masks can help prevent the spread of Coronavirus from someone who has it, but they’re much less effective on the other end of the equation. They don’t keep particles out of the breathing space at the rate that would be necessary for effective protection from the virus.
Masks are one of the items that authorities have been after as they’ve tried to respond to the virus’s continued spread — production of masks is among the items emergency virus response funding is slated to be used for. Congress is working through negotiations to approve some of that funding this week, and separately, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and private manufacturers have been working on enacting an actually effective large scale testing regimen.
Check out Twitter’s response below…
