Wednesday, April 8, 2020

The United States "refused" COVID-19 diagnostic tests offered by the World Health Organization.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/us-coronavirus-test/


What's True

The U.S. did not use COVID-19 diagnostic tests produced by the World Health Organization (WHO) in favor of producing its own.

What's False

The U.S. did not turn down an offer to use those tests (as no such offer was extended), nor was it unusual for the United States to design and produce its own diagnostic tests in lieu of those made elsewhere.
 

Chinese Firm to Replace Exported Coronavirus Test Kits Deemed Defective by Spain

https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/03/27/world/asia/27reuters-health-coronavirus-shenzhen-bioeasy-spain.html

 
BEIJING/MADRID — China's Shenzhen Bioeasy Biotechnology Co Ltd said on Friday it will replace some coronavirus test kits it exported to Spain after the Spanish government deemed them too inaccurate to be used to diagnose patients.
Spain's Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare said in a statement that test kits supplied by Shenzhen Bioeasy were defective and had failed to correctly diagnose people when tested at hospitals.
Shenzhen Bioeasy said in a statement that the incorrect results may be a result of a failure to collect samples or use the kits correctly. The firm said it had not adequately communicated with clients how to use the kits.
The Spanish ministry said it will withdraw the kits that returned incorrect results, and would replace them with a different testing kit provided by Shenzhen Bioeasy.

Coronavirus: Countries reject Chinese-made equipment

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52092395

Spain’s government encountered similar problems with testing kits ordered from a Chinese company.
It announced it had bought hundreds of thousands of tests to combat the virus, but revealed in the following days that nearly 60,000 could not accurately determine if a patient had the virus.
The Chinese embassy in Spain tweeted that the company behind the kits, Shenzhen Bioeasy Biotechnology, did not have an official license from Chinese medical authorities to sell its products.
It clarified that separate material donated by the Chinese government and technology and retail group Alibaba did not include products from Shenzhen Bioeasy.
Turkey also announced that it had found some testing kits ordered from Chinese companies were not sufficiently accurate, although it said that some 350,000 of the tests worked well.
Allegations of defective equipment come after critics warned China could be using the coronavirus outbreak to further its influence.

New White House press secretary downplayed pandemic threat and said Democrats were rooting for coronavirus

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/07/politics/white-house-press-secretary-coronavirus/index.html

 New White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany repeatedly downplayed the threat of the coronavirus in comments made in February and March, a CNN KFile review has found.
In radio and television appearances, McEnany, in her role as spokeswoman for President Donald Trump's 2020 campaign, said the administration had the rapidly spreading coronavirus "under control" and said that because of travel restrictions enacted by the President, "we will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here."
She also said Democrats were "actively rooting against what's in the best interest of America," including rooting for coronavirus to take hold. She said coronavirus, like the Russia and Ukraine scandals, was being used to take down Trump.
 

Chaos rocks Trump White House on virus' most tragic day

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/08/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus/index.html

 The chaos and confusion rocking President Donald Trump's administration on the most tragic day yet of the coronavirus pandemic was exceptional even by his own standards.
Trump set out Tuesday to cement his image of a wartime leader facing down an "invisible enemy" at a dark moment as the country waits for the virus to peak and with the economy languishing in suspended animation.
"What we have is a plague, and we're seeing light at the end of the tunnel," the President said, on a day when a record number of Americans succumbed to the wicked respiratory disease.
But instead of putting minds at rest, Trump's wild performance instead put on a display many of the personal and political habits that have defined his tumultuous presidency. It was a troubling spectacle coming at such a wrenching chapter of national life, the kind of moment when Presidents are called to provide consistent, level leadership.
 
Trump's top economic adviser Larry Kudlow admitted that a small business rescue program was off to "a bad start" after recipients struggled to register funds, only for the President to celebrate the program's roaring success -- and to credit his daughter Ivanka with personally creating 15 million jobs.
 
 

US Navy boss resigns amid uproar over firing of ship captain

https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-navy-boss-resigns-amid-uproar-over-firing-of-ship-captain/
Modly came to his own conclusion and offered his resignation. Modly’s options were few. Officials said it would have been difficult for him to rebuild his relationship with sailors in the fleet, and equally hard to restore his reputation among senior military leaders and retired naval officers who believed his sharp remarks on the Roosevelt crossed a line.


 

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Trump removes watchdog tapped for $2 trillion virus rescue oversight

https://q13fox.com/2020/04/07/trump-removes-watchdog-tapped-for-2t-virus-rescue-oversight/

The move threatens to upend the rigorous oversight that Democrats in Congress demanded for the huge sums of money being pumped into the American economy because of the virus.
It’s also part of a broader conflict between Trump, a president averse to outside criticism, and the watchdog community tasked with identifying mismanagement and problems inside government agencies.
 
Trump has bristled at the oversight of the coronavirus law, suggesting in a statement last month that some of the mandates from Congress were unconstitutional.
“I’ll be the oversight,” Trump declared as lawmakers were finalizing the rescue plan.

He has also drawn criticism for naming a White House lawyer to a new Treasury Department position overseeing $500 billion in coronavirus aid to industry.

Republican Sen. Charles Grassley, a longtime whistleblower advocate, tweeted at Trump not to view inspectors general as critics, though he didn’t mention Fine by name. He said the officials hold the federal bureaucracy accountable.



President Trump Removes Watchdog Overseeing Rollout Of $2 Trillion Coronavirus Bill | MSNBC

Fact check: Did the coronavirus originate in a Chinese laboratory?



A statement in the Lancet, a medical journal, written by public health officials who have been following the progression of the virus also asserted that animals are the likely source: “Scientists from multiple countries have published and analysed genomes of the causative agent, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and they overwhelmingly conclude that this coronavirus originated in wildlife.

The coronavirus did not escape from a lab. Here's how we know

Acting secretary of the Navy has submitted his resignation after calling ousted aircraft carrier captain 'stupid'

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/07/politics/modly-resign-crozier-esper-trump/index.html
 
Washington (CNN)Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly has submitted his resignation a day after leaked audio revealed he called the ousted commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt "stupid" in an address to the ship's crew, according to a US official and a former senior military official.

On Monday, Modly told the crew of the Roosevelt that their former commander, Capt. Brett Crozier, was either "too naive or too stupid" to be in command or that he intentionally leaked a memo to the media, in which Crozier warned about coronavirus spreading aboard the aircraft carrier and urged action to save his sailors, according to remarks obtained by CNN.
Late Monday night, Modly apologized in a statement for calling Crozier "stupid" in his earlier remarks.