Texas Progs / coronavirus, wk 27: Truth and lies about Trump

The big news this week, of course, is that Trump "got it" and had to go to Walter Reed, even as questions abound about White House testing laxity and protocols.

Well, no, that's not the big news. The big news is all the sycophancy surrounding this, starting with Trump's doctor refusing to give straight up information, then the Trump Train falsely using HIPPA to try to defend this, then culminating in Ivanka Trump defending her daddy with a staged photo.

Nothing can stop him from working for the American people. RELENTLESS! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/2ZSat782qe

— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) October 4, 2020

Well, I answered that (more than once):

Note the image, the DESPERATION of RELENTLESS sycophancy of #TrumpTrain hacks AND FAMILY w/staged pix.
A White House and Ivanka so desperate for PR that they can't even fix Trump's combover.
Trump was in bed at 5:25 p.m., showing how sick he is.
RELENTLESS DESPERATION

— The Notorious Roy G. Biv, GSNRF* 🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) October 4, 2020

Then, there's the lies claiming these photos' EXIF were manipulated by AP. Answered that, too:

As to whether it's more likely an AP photog wld lie by data manipulation or Trump ld engage in a cheap & stupid PR stunt?
AND? No. 3: A White House & Ivanka so desperate for PR they can't even fix Trump's combover.
No. 4: Trump in bed at 5:25 p.m., showing how sick he is.

— The Notorious Roy G. Biv, GSNRF* 🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) October 4, 2020

Sadly, there's some Democraps (or beyond??) claiming the other way around, that Ivanka et al manipulated data on pix a week old.

Followed by us learning more about how bad Trump's condition really is behind Ivanaka's bullshit.

I think we need to trust not their words but trust the signals of what drugs they have given Trump. Dexamethasone use clearly puts Trump as now a SERIOUS #COVID19 patient based on WHO guidelines for use of this drug. No way to justify mild to moderate case anymore. https://t.co/MfJ9xlw2Pj pic.twitter.com/HmfuOErAXP

— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) October 4, 2020

Sad.

And learning more about Dr. Conley's apparent lies and restatements on Trump's infection timeline indicate he likely PERSONALLY AND WILLFULLY INFECTED OTHERS. And, not just Republican or Democratic pols, people like White House service staff and Bedminster staff.

Here's the skinny, from New England Journal of Medicine, on dexamethasone and COVID. I quote.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is associated with diffuse lung damage. Glucocorticoids may modulate inflammation-mediated lung injury and thereby reduce progression to respiratory failure and death.

Now we see the level of Ivanka's PR lies.

And, with all of this and more, if Dr. Conley has Trump released by the end of the day today, he's violating his Hippocratic Oath and so are any Walter Reed doctors that sign off.  And, they did, even acknowledging that he was NOT yet outside a window of concern. Yeah, he would have left anyway, but you still do your duty and he's marked as booking it against doctor's orders.

Meanwhile? Don Jr. reportedly is actually worried about Daddy Warbucks, or at least his actions.

Speaking of?

To wrap one post from the regular roundup in here?

SocraticGadfly has semiregularly, for several months, split off coronavirus news from other items in his version of the weekly Texas Progressives Roundup. Last week, he tackled COVID political tribalism coming from MULTIPLE sides and called ALL of it out.

Speaking of THAT? Coronavirus issues are dividing black and white churches, at least in Georgia.

Meanwhile, yours truly noted that not all COVIDIOTS inside the Beltway are Trump Trainers. Looking at you, WHCA.

In a great longform, Zeynep Tufecki explains that on coronavirus, even more than R0, the spread rate, epidemeologists are talking about k, the dispersion rate. That is, how much of the problem is due to superspreader "bursts" vs more steady "drips."

Finally? Julia Ioffe describes her own journey through multiple negative tests until physical symptoms finally got a doctor to override test results.