OT: The Sturgis Rally and COVID

The coronavirus would weaken “when we get into April, in the warmer weather—that has a very negative effect on that, and that type of a virus.”

The outbreak would be temporary: “It’s going to disappear. One day it’s like a miracle—it will disappear.”

 “Coronavirus numbers are looking MUCH better, going down almost everywhere,” and cases are “coming way down.”

The pandemic is “fading away. It’s going to fade away.”

The pandemic is “getting under control.”

 “99%” of COVID-19 cases are “totally harmless.”

 “We now have the lowest Fatality (Mortality) Rate in the World.”

 Mexico is partly to blame for COVID-19 surges in the Southwest.

Children are “virtually immune” to COVID-19.

 The U.S. has “among the lowest case-fatality rates of any major country anywhere in the world.”

“launched the largest national mobilization since World War II” against COVID-19, and America “developed, from scratch, the largest and most advanced testing system in the world.”

 “The Obama administration made a decision on testing that turned out to be very detrimental to what we’re doing,” Trump said.

 The Obama White House’s response to the H1N1 pandemic was “a full scale disaster, with thousands dying, and nothing meaningful done to fix the testing problem, until now.”

 The Trump White House “inherited” a “broken,” “bad,” and “obsolete” test for the coronavirus.

The Obama administration left Trump “bare” and “empty” shelves of medical supplies in the national strategic stockpile.

 Referring to criticism of his administration’s response, Trump tweeted: “Compare that to the Obama/Sleepy Joe disaster known as H1N1 Swine Flu. Poor marks ... didn’t have a clue!”

 “Anybody that needs a test, gets a test. We—they’re there. They have the tests. And the tests are beautiful” and “If somebody wants to be tested right now, they’ll be able to be tested.”

Google engineers are building a website to help Americans determine whether they need testing for the coronavirus and to direct them to their nearest testing site.

America has “developed a testing capacity unmatched and unrivaled anywhere in the world, and it’s not even close.”

The United States has conducted more testing “than all other countries together!”

 “Cases are going up in the U.S. because we are testing far more than any other country.”

“If an American is coming back or anybody is coming back, we’re testing,” Trump said. “We have a tremendous testing setup where people coming in have to be tested … We’re not putting them on planes if it shows positive, but if they do come here, we’re quarantining.”

 “We stopped all of Europe” with a travel ban. “We started with certain parts of Italy, and then all of Italy. Then we saw Spain. Then I said, ‘Stop Europe; let’s stop Europe. We have to stop them from coming here.’”

“I’ve always known this is a real—this is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic … I’ve always viewed it as very serious.”

This kind of pandemic “was something nobody thought could happen … Nobody would have ever thought a thing like this could have happened.”

At a press briefing with his coronavirus task force, Trump said the FDA had approved the antimalarial drug chloroquine to treat COVID-19. “Normally the FDA would take a long time to approve something like that, and it’s—it was approved very, very quickly and it’s now approved by prescription,”

Trump was being “sarcastic” when he suggested in a briefing on April 23 that his medical experts should research the use of powerful light and injected disinfectants to treat COVID-19

 The coronavirus is “going to go away without a vaccine … and we’re not going to see it again, hopefully, after a period of time.”

Taking hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 is safe and effective. “I happen to be a believer in hydroxy. I used it. I had no problem. I happen to be a believer,” Trump said on one occasion. “It doesn’t hurt people,” he commented on another.

Trump “didn’t say” that governors do not need all the medical equipment they are requesting from the federal government. And he “didn’t say” that governors should be more appreciative of the help.

Hospitals are reporting an artificially inflated need for masks and equipment, items that might be “going out the back door,” Trump said on two separate days. He also said he was not talking about hoarding: “I think maybe it’s worse than hoarding.”

Asked about his past praise of China and its transparency, Trump said that he hadn’t “talk[ed] about China’s transparency.”

 Joe Biden wants to institute a national shutdown.

There is a lot more. 

you're definitely a better poster when not revealing your political ignorance

based on a large number of anecdotes, both personally and numerous other articles, i highly doubt that 180K (or whatever number is used) died b/c of covid.  covid is serious, no doubt, but those numbers are being used as political weapons and skepticism is an absolute must. 

This is what I was responding to with my comment about "the rest of the world", further winnowed down after your reply to the countries I listed above. You still haven't substantively responded, with respect. To put a finer point on it, I'm asking if numbers have been a political tool in those countries? Are they making things up to hurt Trump? 

It's pretty frustrating, when you come in to a thread like this implying that "we" (those of us who are saying some variation of "yes of course this happened") are dumb, or misled, but then don't respond with any real substance when challenged on specifics. I'm sorry, but I don't know how to say that, while conveying full meaning, without sounding a bit offensive. I'd really like an explanation though, I'm trying to understand your thinking, among others.