Saturday, March 14, 2020

President is not following health experts' crisis playbook; governors and local officials are taking a different tack

President Trump has broken every rule in the top federal experts' playbook as he deals with the coronavirus, report Carolyn Johnson and William Wan of The Washington Post.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 450-page manual has some simple rules, they write: "Be consistent. Be accurate. Don’t withhold vital information, the CDC manual says. And above all, don’t let anyone onto the podium without the preparation, knowledge and discipline to deliver vital health messages."

One chapter in the manual is devoted to “choosing the right spokesperson,” they write, “but the government’s leading health experts have had to repeatedly cede the microphone to politicians — with the nation’s top health officials repeatedly canceling news conferences to make room for Vice President Pence or Trump or to avoid upstaging other White House announcements.”

All that is having an effect, and not a good one, on the public, they write: "Crucial messaging also appears to be failing to reach or convince many in America. Nearly 50 million in the country are 65 or older — the most vulnerable age group for severe symptoms and death. But many are shrugging off pleas for them to practice social distancing."

Asked today about the mixed messages he had been sending, specifically why he shook the hands of many people at a ceremony the day before, Trump said, "Because it almost becomes a habit . . . It's sort of a natural reflex, and we're all getting out of it . . . Shaking hands is not a great thing to be doing right now, I agree."

Trump spoke as he started a White House press conference with other officials and experts. He twice said he would leave the lectern to the others and go to the Oval Office, but reporters kept asking him questions, and he kept answering them.

Later in the press conference, Dr. Jerome Adams, the U.S. surgeon general, said the time for political finger-pointing is over, and it's time for more news stories about how Americans can protect themselves and access the federal resources being provided.

Governors and local officials may not have read the CDC manual, but they are following it more closely. In an opinion piece, Travis Waldron of Yahoo News contrasted Trump's approach with that of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who "has struck a calm but urgent tone and empowered Kentucky’s public health officials to speak frankly and clearly about the depth of the outbreak in the Bluegrass State, the potential for it to get worse, and the steps his government is taking to mitigate it."

At his press conference this afternoon, Beshear and other officials began practicing social distancing, no longer clustering on a dais, as Trump and his aides did, but taking turns at the lectern and standing at least six feet apart. "We want to model the type of behavior we should be doing," Beshear said.

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