FDA Head Stephen Hahn Refuses To Reject Trump’s Claim that 99% of COVID Cases are Harmless

FDA Chief Stephen Hahn flipflops and refuses to reject claims that 99% of COVID cases are actually harmless and has no clear date when a vaccine will arrive.

President Trump is back at it again, this time he publicly said that 99% of COVID-19 cases are harmless. Well Mr. President if they are, then why even shutdown all the states and destroy this economy. He made the statement during a Fourth of July event at the White House South Lawn.

Trump said that without evidence and because of testing 40 million people for the virus, “we show cases, 99% of which are totally harmless.” Luckily we have people who are ready to refute those claims. FDA Chief Stephen Hahn appeared on CNN and refused to speculate what the causation is there.

Hahn said the only way out of this, is if Americans follow the CDC guidelines. CNN’s Dana Bash went back to questioning Hahn about how he feels about Trump’s claims. He said he’s not going to get into who is right and who is wrong.

“I’m not going to get into who is right and who is wrong,” adding: “We have seen the surge in cases. We must do something to stem the tide.”

The long-term health effects of coronavirus are still unknown and mortality rates continue to fluctuate for reasons unknown. Currently there are over 2.8 million diagnosed cases in the U.S. and over 129,000 deaths. There have been more than 4 million tests over the last week, but they are seeing record-breaking infections across the country, especially in Arizona, Florida and Texas.

“I’m not going to get into who’s right and who is wrong,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn says when pressed about the misleading claim President Trump made — that 99% of coronavirus cases in America are "totally harmless" https://t.co/P3rgUzC3Fq #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/m9jU8QKYQ3

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 5, 2020

Trump claimed on Saturday that we will have a vaccine by the end of 2020. However, Hahn said it’s unclear when a vaccine will be available. Hahn said: “Our solemn promise to the American people is that we will make a decision based upon the data and science on a vaccine with respect to the safety and effectiveness of that vaccine.” “While the FDA is committed to expediting this work, we will not cut corners in our decisions and are making clear through this guidance what data should be submitted to meet our regulatory standards,” Hahn said in a statement.

If you enjoy our writing, please consider leaving a small donation. Your support helps keep the lights on and allows us to hire more writers and pay our current writers.

Dr. Fauci sounds off thoughts on Coronavirus, anti-science mindset

Dr. Fauci gave his wide-sweeping thoughts on many issues to CNN– from people disbelieving the person who sits in the White House, to vaccines, to inequality, and to the success of the shut-down measures.

Advertisements

When it comes to the White House, Fauci stated that it was unfortunate people don’t believe the administration when it comes to science, because “science is truth”. Like CNN says, it is important to note that Trump has been a believer in the hydroxychloroquine drug as a treatment which has had its emergency authorization pulled by the FDA recently.

In April, he said that as a potential treatment that people could inject disinfectant, and later he said he was joking. The administration talks science (Dr. Fauci, Dr. Birx), but, then, Trump seems to often time give contradictory remarks, and, consistently refuses to wear a mask in public. Dr. Fauci says that the anti-science mindset is the same thing that is behind the anti-vaccers, who say things such as that vaccines causes autism.

NOTE– just because people might not know this, the CDC guidelines for the best protection against the Coronavirus is to wash your hands for 20 seconds, in general, disinfectant is for objects, soap is for hands .

Dr. Fauci says that when it comes to inequality in the African American Community, they don’t have access to equal care. This is furthered by the problem of them more likely to be essential workers and with greater job losses.

Advertisements

Dr. Fauci is a fierce defender of the shut-down. Had no interventions took place, one study says that we could have had 60 million more infections. He questions not whether we should have done the shutdowns, rather, why not sooner. It’s clear that while Dr. Fauci and the Coronavirus Task Force team has been out of the public spotlight recently, Dr. Fauci wants us to keep the Coronavirus at the top of our minds and still take it very seriously. He says that we should not rush to the solution as he states, it is better if a vaccine fails and that money is lost, rather than to rush through the vaccine and have to lose more lives. Getting there will require patience.

If you enjoy what you are reading, consider making a small donation to The Washington Ledger. Your support helps keep the lights on. Any amount is appreciated.

Buy me a coffee

Support Me on Patreon

Send Me A Donation

Pres. Trump: ‘Coronavirus Outbreak Could Get Worse Before It Gets Better’

A day after saying during a press conference at the White House that his administration will “spend whatever is appropriate” to combat coronavirus, President Trump again touted his administration’s response to the outbreak in a meeting ahead of an African American History Month reception Thursday night.

After saying that “we’re almost all better now” and that “it would be really nice if we could be recognized by the press fairly,” Trump discussed how he delivered a “very good” and “calming” press conference on his administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak Wednesday night.

“It was a very good press conference — basically it was a calming press conference,” Trump said. “It was a press conference to say we’re doing well.” Trump also said that “this is really above politics,” regarding the funding to combat coronavirus, according to a White House pool report Thursday night.

On Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) countered Trump on his proposal for emergency funding to combat the coronavirus by asking for $8.5 billion — three times more than the Trump administration’s $2.5 billion request. The next day, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) torched Trump for attempting to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the CDC in his new budget proposal, which he issued following reports of coronavirus cases.

Trump also seemed to suggest that the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. would be worse if it hadn’t been for him.

“15 people is almost, I would say, a miracle,” Trump said, referring to the amount of confirmed cases in the U.S., according to Bloomberg News reporter Josh Wingrove in a Thursday evening tweet.

However, Trump added that the coronavirus outbreak could worsen before getting better.

“It’s going to disappear. One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear. And from our shores, you know, it could get worse before it gets better,” Trump said. “It could maybe go away. We’ll see what happens. Nobody really knows. The fact is the greatest experts I’ve spoken to them all, nobody really knows.”

When asked about how stocks have continued to take a significant tumble as of Thursday, Trump took the opportunity to blame the press and Democrats.

According to a White House pool report Thursday evening, Trump said the press is “out of line” and that Democrats should not make his administration’s response to coronavirus a political issue given how the country is pulling together.

Trump also argued that markets are factoring the possibility of a Democrat winning the presidential election “into the equation,” Bloomberg News reporter Josh Wingrove said in a Thursday evening tweet.

Trump on coronavirus: "It could maybe go away. We'll see what happens. Nobody really knows." pic.twitter.com/sH9K2dvTsF

— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) February 28, 2020

A Fond Farewell To An Old Explorer

February 15,2019- The Mars rover Explorer has run out of power and died on the Martian surface. It came to its end after being caught up in a dust storm. It had spent fifteen years exploring the Martian surface. While there is another rover on Mars, Curiosity, it is too far away to get to Explorer in time before the harshness of the Martian winter descends and does severe damage to Explorer. In addition, Curiosity is incapable of performing repairs even if it could reach Explorer in time.

In its fifteen-year career, Explorer discovered many things about the Martian landscape. The rover was in fact designed to only last ninety days, far exceeding NASA’s plans for it. During its career, it discovered Mars had a very wet past (perhaps enough water to have once even supported life?) and explored formerly uncharted regions of the red planet.

The little rover faced challenges along the way. In 2005, it lost its front wheel steering and was caught in a sand ripple. In 2007, Explorer faced a two-month long dust storm. In 2017, it lost steering to its other front wheel. The NASA team back on Earth managed to help the rover bounce back before it was too late on other occasions, but this dust storm proved too great for it to endure. A Martian dust storm is a powerful thing with clouds of dust sometimes reaching up to seventy-five feet, sometimes covering the entirety of the planet and can also have lightning strikes. Explorer found its final resting place in Perseverance Valley, a fitting end.

A Successful Mission

Before meeting its end, Explorer made a number of accomplishments. It sent back 217,000 images of the Martian landscape back to Earth, found a mineral that forms in water known as hematite-evidence of Mars’ watery past-and exposed the surface of fifty-two rocks for analysis. At Endeavor Crater, the rover found strong evidence of what may have been drinkable water similar to lake water on Earth.

John Callas, manager of the Mars Exploration Rover, had this to say about Explorer:

“When I think of Opportunity, I will recall that place on Mars where our intrepid rover far exceeded everyone’s expectations. “But what I suppose I’ll cherish most is the impact Opportunity had on us here on Earth. It’s the accomplished exploration and phenomenal discoveries. It’s the generation of young scientists and engineers who became space explorers with this mission. It’s the public that followed along with our every step. And it’s the technical legacy of the Mars Exploration Rovers, which is carried aboard Curiosity and the upcoming Mars 2020 mission. Farewell, Opportunity, and well done.”

If you enjoyed our articles, please consider making a small gift to The Washington Ledger.   100 percent of your donation goes to fund the small editorial staff and basic tools that TWL uses to support our journalists. Please consider supporting our mission by allowing our team to focus on what we do best. The future of journalism depends on it.

Or Become a Patron Today

Health Innovations In 2019

Last year saw some exciting developments in the realms of health and medical technology. In China, a doctor did gene editing to make twin infants resistant to the HIV virus (this is assuming those reports are true.) Other innovations included successful genome editing of diseased cells which restored neurons affected by dementia. An experimental cancer vaccine, brain implants that can improve human memory and using UV lights to kill viruses were also among the inventions made by scientists in 2018.

Medical Marvels

A number of medical innovations are being developed this year. One such innovation is designed to help those suffering from Type 1 Diabetes using stem cells. Stem cells are cells that have the potential to turn into many different cells of the body. Scientists at the University of Copenhagen hope to turn stem cells in the pancreas into islet cells which produce insulin. This will help diabetes patients to generate their own insulin without needing injections.

Another innovation will be in the realm of genetics. Everyone has a different genetic makeup due to the way chromosomes recombine. Many doctors hope to create medications tailored to the unique makeup of their patients. More steps towards this goal will be taken in 2019.

Another innovation is using particle accelerators to cut away tumors. This could potentially be used to slice away tumors that are difficult or impossible to get to via traditional means.

These are only a few of the innovations that may be on the horizon for 2019. Other breakthroughs may include contacts that inject medication, to be used for eye diseases, and more advanced hearing aids.