The Media Flip On COVID

We're now on day 11 of the presidency of Old Joe Biden.  Let's take a look at the latest COVID numbers and the media response.

1. When Trump left office, the seven day average number of tests nationwide was just about 2 million per day.  There was a constant cry in the media that we had an inadequate national testing strategy.  Now, a week and a half later, the seven day average number of tests is 11% LOWER than it was when Trump left office.  The media, however, no longer even discusses testing strategy.

2.  Before he left office, Trump was saying that the vaccines which were speedily produced, tested and approved un his operation Warp Speed would end the pandemic for the most part.  The media laughed at that and derided Trump for "lying".  Today, under Biden, a saw an article headlined "Don't Look Now But the Vaccine Is Ending the Pandemic".  It was published by The Week, a reliably leftist rag.

3.  Under Trump the vaccination rate climbed quickly and hit just under a million per day on Inauguration Day.  Biden then came in and announced his big plan to do 1 million per day.  In other words, he had no plan.  The momentum that Trump left has pushed the daily rate of vaccination up to 1.3 million per day.  The impending approval of more vaccines developed under operation Warp Speed will enable that number to quickly double and then continue to rise.  No one in the mainstream media gives Trump any credit for achieving all this.

At the moment, something like 7% of the American people have been vaccinated.  These are all high risk people.  In the coming months, this vaccination program should cut the number of deaths due to the virus in a major way.  Cases will decline, but cases among groups that lose 10% or more of those infected will plummet in dramatic fashion.  The death rate should fall at an accelerated pace.

Without a doubt, when the death rate comes down, Biden and the Democrats will claim victory for themselves.  It's a tradition that the party in office takes credit for anything good that happens.  For example, Richard Nixon took credit for the moon landings that resulted from a program begun by Kennedy and pursued mostly under Johnson.  Still, it will be interesting to see if Biden even acknowledges the great efforts towards getting the nation vaccinated made by the Trump Administration.  Surely, the media will say nothing, but Biden and his "unity" talking point surely ought to do this.

Anyway, the good news is that things are moving in the right direction regarding the virus.  Let's enjoy the good news (even if it's not fully or accurately reported.)