UNMC pandemic expert says Trump's COVID-19 response cost thousands of lives

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Henry Cordes

A pandemic expert from the University of Nebraska Medical Center welcomed a chance to reset the nation’s COVID-19 response under new President Joe Biden and sharply criticized Donald Trump, saying the outgoing president undermined public health guidance and cost thousands of lives.

Dr. James Lawler, a manager at UNMC’s Global Center for Health Security, particularly faulted the messages Trump sent by politicizing masks, downplaying the severity of the pandemic and holding large rallies.

It all suggested to the public, Lawler said, that the pandemic was overblown and that social distancing measures designed to control the virus amounted to unnecessary infringements on people’s lives.

“The result of that is we have 400,000 dead Americans,” Lawler said in an interview with The World-Herald. “It didn’t need to be this way.”



Dr. James Lawler of the Global Center for Health Security at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

CHRIS MACHIAN, THE WORLD-HERALD


Read more: https://omaha.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/unmc-pandemic-expert-says-trumps-covid-19-response-cost-thousands-of-lives/article_84abed50-5c0c-11eb-98c3-7f162717bf1d.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1

[Botany]

1. "It didn't need to be this way."

[KS Toronado]

2. Hillary would have put to good use the Pandemic Playbook

Along with her natural Motherly instincts.

[Ford_Prefect]

3. At 400,000+ I believe that remark is an egregious understatement.