Americans are Dying, Nurses are Crying, Concentrate, Concentrate, President Trump

by Kara Machowski

Concentrate on what I’m Saying, People are Dying, Nurses are Crying, Concentrate, Concentrate, President Trump

The last few weeks for America have felt like months, from the number of deaths of people from coronavirus, to the spread, whose cases now tops all countries around the world. President Trump seems to be singing a new tune every week, from firstly blaming Democrats and fake news for spreading propaganda about Covid-19 to touting himself for closing down travel to and from China. However, we know that because there was such a lack of detection for incoming travelers who had been in Wuhan or sects of China, as well as Italy during the beginning of their outbreak, the virus was welcomed into the country. Last week Americans witnessed as President Trump receded his previous beliefs, declared a National Emergency, introduced a 2 trillion dollar bill to aid America, as well as a declaration for war against the virus. But this past week he has again, drawn those beliefs back and has stated that he would like to see the country open for Easter Sunday, that it would be "a beautiful thing". One has to wonder, who he spoke to over the weekend that instilled this thought or was it purely his own?

For me, I noticed that my anxiety rose tenfold in the last few days. Overnight Thursday, the president rebutted the idea that New York would need 30,000 ventilators and declared that he refused to send them. During the white house briefing Thursday he claimed that there had been a decline in mortality rate, in the United States, as well as around the world, a fact that simply wasn’t true. Friday he began to lash out at General Motors for not making ventilators fast enough, which invoked him to enact the Defense Production Act. This inconsistency with information and complete disregard for those dying is flabbergasting at this point, because all that it does is create a discord between his supporters and the people who are actually asking for and needing help with the virus.

Thus far, President Trump has yet to recognize those who are fighting the virus as well as the families who have lost someone. He hasn’t recognized that a 17 year old recently passed, or a well known chef, Floyd Cardez, who lost the battle with coronavirus, let alone Amy Klobuchar, whose husband was admitted to the hospital early in the week and thankfully is beginning to recover. Last week he said that he wasn’t concentrating on the stock market, but in less than a week all that he seems to be talking about in briefings is the stock market and returning people back to work as well as re-opening sects of the country that don’t seem to be affected by the virus, against medical professionals advice to simply watch the numbers and make those decisions as they come. Dr. Fauci has repeatedly contradicted the president directly after the president has spoken, and the result is that we don’t get to hear from Fauci for a day.

Unfortunately the charts do show that we will see a mass increase in spread as other states and cities are catching up to New York, the most affected state thus far. Cases are doubling in other states while deaths are on the rise as well. As of 3pm EST Friday, since the start of the day, there were 265 deaths in the United States, toppling any other day, and the day hadn’t finished yet.

Amazingly, one strong positive amongst the crisis is that I have connected with a few friends and new friends from around the world. One I knew is in Istanbul, who entered lockdown five days ago and is hoping that they caught the spread in time as they are just over 3,700 cases and less than 100 deaths.

Another new friend is currently in Beijing and had been there and in Zhejiang during China’s major battle with coronavirus and the input from them has been interesting as well as a bit fearful. They confirmed that one hospital in Wuhan did not have proper medical gear and most importantly, N95 masks. They saw a rapid spread among staff and infected 3,000 hospital workers and they lost dozens of staff. But what stuck out to me was his urgent call to use N95 masks, something that most hospitals aren’t equipped with. They explained that the cloth masks don’t do much in regards to protecting against the virus, something that nurses have been having to reuse day after day.

The sister of nurse manager, Kious Kelly of Manhattan, New York, explained on CNN how her brother lost his battle to coronavirus and mentioned that he had to ziplock his mask at the end of the day to use it the next, a completely unorthodox medical precaution. My friend from Beijing explained that citizens need to be using N95 masks, as it is the only way to be able to move around to grocery stores and pharmacies and stay protected. Still, there is no word as to when America will be fully stocked with N95 masks and as one nurse cried, she explained how the U.S. was a first world country and that it was simply unacceptable.

It’s troubling how much the president seems to be continuously dismissing the news, expert medical advice, and pleas for help. New Orleans is seeing a complete surge in cases as coronavirus seemed to have spread during Mardis Gras, as well as areas where spring breakers were and have returned to as one cellphone tracking index displayed. It was able to track cellphones that were in Fort Lauderdale, specifically, the beach during mid-March, and when they left, mostly returning to northern states along the eastern coast, which have had a large increase in cases. Many Americans wish that President Trump's rhetoric would return to that of last week where he seemed to only be focused on the fight against the spread of the Covid-19 virus.