Given how much credibility and trust matter to managing a public health crisis it feels weird for the press to be so uninterested. Maybe they worry covering that would come across as questioning "science" at a dangerous time?
I mean, why has the media never asked politicians to produce some kind of end state to restrictions? Why have politicians and “experts” been allowed to just extend things and “wait two more weeks” without articulating a clearly defined goal?
Why has the media never questioned high cycle rates for PCR tests?
Why has the media constantly downplayed good news?
Alas....
These are already in place. Most panels are looking for trajectories of illness and hospital capacity. Note, I have found these metric-based plans much easier to find for certain states: https://covid19.ca.gov/safer-economy/ https://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/covid19/Taskforce%2... (see page 9) https://forward.ny.gov/metrics-guide-reopening-new-york (see "Diagnostic Testing and Contact Tracing Capacity") https://www.mass.gov/doc/reopening-massachusetts-may-18-2020...
> Why has the media never questioned high cycle rates for PCR tests?
The turnaround time of testing? I'm not sure what you are bringing up here.
> Why has the media constantly downplayed good news?
This isn't a covid problem. For a variety of reasons, the media downplays good news across the board. They have a vested interest in keeping viewers "tuned in" to problems.
Except perhaps for a brief period at the beginning of restrictions, every state imposing restrictions, at least that I am aware of, did so with a concrete set of milestones which governed step-down.
There is no excuse to not have a fixed set of KPI's with a well defined end-state that includes a full return to normal. "Science", even rapidly changing science, doesn't tell you what KPI's to use. If the goal is hospital capacity, great... use that. If you can't formulate and articulate the goal, including a full return to normal, maybe you shouldn't have imposed the restrictions in the first place.
Honestly the fact that the plans keep shifting lead me to believe that the governor isn't actually looking at the data at all but is instead trying to feel the room to see when it is politically "safe" to fully reopen. A strong indicator that the time to reopen was a long time ago...
To say that someone "has no excuse" only makes sense once you have at least as much understanding as they do of the context in which they are making decisions. Anger makes it easy to ignore others' perspective. Anger makes it easy to fool yourself into thinking you are holding others accountable skillfully.
Personally, I'm surprised this article suggests Fauci lied, because I definitely remember reading about the full explanation behind the CDC's recommendation against public mask wearing way back in March 2020. I remember reading that the recommendation against public mask wearing was mainly due to supply chain concerns, and that the general public should use improvised masks instead, if they can.
...maybe a lot of people only heard the short soundbites instead of the full story...? I'm just speculating here.
If felt like we lived through four ages in as many months at the beginning of last year.
The CDC post is in line with Fauci's recommendation. My understanding is that the original recommendation was to avoid a shortage of masks during a critical period of the pandemic.