Recently, my family went to the zoo, and even with the coronavirus restrictions, I can confirm that the monkey house still smells like shit. The funny thing about the monkey house is that the longer you stay inside, the less the smell bothers you. You almost become used to it.
That’s been the Trump White House for all of America. We’d gotten so used to the smell that the idea of a real adult presidenting almost seemed like a joke.
So when President-elect Joe Biden announced Monday that he was ready to name his coronavirus task force and it actually consisted of real doctors and not donors and x-ray doctors (no offense, x-ray doctors), I’d forgotten that air could smell so sweet.
According to the Washington Post, Biden’s task force, get this, will include three co-chairs: Vivek H. Murthy, surgeon general during the Obama administration; David Kessler, Food and Drug Administration commissioner under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton; and Marcella Nunez-Smith, associate dean for health equity research at the Yale School of Medicine.
The Post also notes that “Murthy and Kessler have briefed Biden for months on the pandemic.”
I feel almost as giddy as Van Jones when he sees Eric Trump’s phone number come flashing up on his iPhone. Because I literally forgot that this was possible, that scientists could be on a task force and that task force could seriously discuss and possibly implement a protocol to deal with this pandemic.
“Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is one of the most important battles our administration will face, and I will be informed by science and by experts,” Biden said in a statement. “The advisory board will help shape my approach to managing the surge in reported infections; ensuring vaccines are safe, effective, and distributed efficiently, equitably, and free; and protecting at-risk populations.”
Because President Richie Rich fucked his pandemic response so royally, Biden inherits “the worst crisis since the Great Depression...The Trump administration has not put forward national plans for testing, contact tracing and resolving shortages in personal protective equipment that hospitals and health-care facilities are experiencing again as the nation enters its third surge of the virus,” the Post reports.
As it stands the nation is recording some 100,000 new coronavirus cases a day, and more than 1,000 deaths. The next two to three months during the transition of power is going to be crucial as the coronavirus will still be causing havoc while the flu will also be out and crushing the buildings.
From the Post:
The 13-member task force also includes former Trump administration officials, including Rick Bright, former head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, who, after being demoted, spoke out against the administration’s approach to the pandemic. Luciana Borio, director for medical and biodefense preparedness on Trump’s National Security Council until 2019, is also on the panel.
The group includes several other prominent doctors:
· Ezekiel Emanuel, chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
· Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School who is a prolific author.
· Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.
· Eric Goosby, global AIDS coordinator under President Barack Obama and professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine.
· Celine R. Gounder, clinical assistant professor of medicine and infectious diseases at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine.
· Julie Morita, executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a philanthropy focused on health issues.
· Loyce Pace, president and executive director of the Global Health Council, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization dedicated to global health issues.
Biden also plans to reach out to governors of all states to develop a consistent message and good luck with Kentucky and Florida. If you could imagine a stork wearing a stained wife beater that could no longer fly because of its insatiable meth addiction, that would be Kentucky and Florida. Kentucky recently had its biggest outbreak: 12,421 cases in one week, up almost 500 cases from the week before. Kentucky also re-elected Mitch McConnell so there is that, and Florida is responsible for 98 percent of America’s assholes. I don’t have any proof of this but prove that I’m wrong. Not to mention the entire Midwest is covfefed, which is what happens when you refuse to wear masks during COVID-19. Biden will push for a nationwide mask mandate and clear messaging around coronavirus practices.
“We cannot repair the economy, restore our vitality or relish life’s most precious moments — hugging a grandchild, birthdays, weddings, graduations, all the moments that matter most to us — until we get this virus under control,” Biden said in his victory speech Saturday, the Post reports. “That plan will be built on a bedrock of science. It will be constructed out of compassion, empathy and concern. I will spare no effort — or commitment — to turn this pandemic around.”
You hear that America? This MF spittin’.