Tag

#COVID-19

3 incidents

Grade 1 of 5: Significant Democratic Concern

Trump's COVID Infection: Experimental Treatment While Downplaying Pandemic

Trump's COVID infection came after months of publicly downplaying the disease, refusing to wear masks, and holding indoor rallies. His treatment at Walter Reed included Regeneron's experimental monoclonal antibody cocktail (not yet FDA-authorized), dexamethasone — a steroid given only to patients with severe COVID per WHO protocols — and supplemental oxygen. His doctor Sean Conley gave contradictory statements about whether Trump had needed supplemental oxygen and on what days his oxygen saturation had dropped. Trump staged a motorcade through COVID patients outside Walter Reed while contagious. Upon returning to the White House, he removed his mask for a photo op while potentially still infectious to staff.

Grade 4 of 5: Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Title 42 Expulsions: Public-Health Order Used to Expel Asylum Seekers Without Screening, Over CDC Experts' Objections (March 2020)

The administration used a COVID-19 public-health order to close the southern border to asylum seekers, expelling hundreds of thousands of people with no protection screening. Top CDC scientists said there was no public-health basis for it. Human Rights Watch found it violated the US obligation not to return people to persecution or torture.

Grade 3 of 5: Serious Rights Violation

COVID-19 Pandemic Response: Deliberate Downplaying and Policy Failures Contributing to Preventable Deaths

Bob Woodward's taped interviews revealed Trump said in February 2020 that COVID-19 was 'deadly stuff' and 'more deadly than even your strenuous flus' — while publicly comparing it to the flu and calling Democrats' criticism of his response 'the new hoax.' The administration rejected WHO tests, blocked CDC mask guidance, slow-walked ventilator production, pressured states to reopen prematurely, promoted hydroxychloroquine against scientific evidence, and suggested people inject disinfectant. By Inauguration Day 2021, 400,000 Americans were dead.