California Gov. Gavin Newsom predicted today that 56% of the state’s 40 million residents or 25.5 million people will be infected with the novel corona virus in eight weeks. Newsom’s statements are so outrageous, so hysterical, so unscientific that it defies imagination what he’s trying to accomplish. If he wants to sow panic in California he’s done a good job. With 1001 SARS CoV-2 cases and only 19 deaths, Newsom can’t possibly think his predictions or those of his health care advisers are correct. Since the virus hit California Feb. 28, there’s only 1001 cases, with Newsom today ordering Californians to “shelter in place,” stay at home unless engaged in essential business like buying food or seeing health care workers. Based on the rate over the last three weeks and new isolation and social distancing orders, Newsom’s gone mad predicting 25.5 million cases in eight weeks.
Holding press conference with those outrageous, unfounded predictions, Newsom shows why he’s the wrong person to lead the state. It would be the equivalent if 73-year-old President Trump predicted the U.S. would have 100 million cases of Covid-19 in a few months, something that would drive him from office. Trump’s critics would have him removed from office for making irresponsible forecasts, something the equivalent of screaming fire, when there isn’t one, in crowded movie theater. Newsom’s “shelter in place” order and dire predictions stir unnecessary panic, not a responsible call to action by the state’s highest elected official. Newsom announced today that USNC Mercy thousand-bed naval hospital would be deployed to California to handle hospital overflows should the virus, as Newsom predicts, create a dangerous drain on the state’s hospital system.
When you consider that most of the 1001 coronavirus cases in California are not hospitalized, it’s placing little strain on the state’s 72,000 hospital beds. Where Newsom gets his data that the SARS CoV-2 epidemic will infect 25.5 million Californians is anyone’s guess. Looks like he’s making things up to justify his “shelter in place” order, now requiring California residents to state at home. Whoever made the 25.5 million number needs to stand accountable. But more, importantly, Newsom needs to stand accountable for whipping the state into mass hysteria. Most citizens are far for level-headed than he is. There’s nothing in the number crunching that could possibly account for California going from 1001 cases today, to 25.5 million eight weeks down the road. With over 7,200 intensive care beds and 72,000 total hospital beds, the State doesn’t need to tie USNS Mercy up in California.
While there’s nothing wrong with asking Californians to “shelter in place,” there’s something very wrong with predicting in public that 25.5 million Californians will be infected with Covid-19 in two months. No one denies that health authorities must heed the wise advice of the World Health Organization [WHO] and Centers for Disease Control [CDC] to practice social isolation and distancing and frequent hand-washing and disinfecting when possible. Just staying out of crowds should slow the virus from spreading over the next few weeks. Newsom’s public proclamation lacks any foundation other than pure scare tactics, so irresponsible, so reckless, so outrageous that it demands someone look at his mental health. With 1001 cases now and 19 deaths in the State, how’s the Covid-19 epidemic supposes to escalate as Newsom forecasts? No elected official should make such reckless statements.
Newsom took to the airwaves to deliver his bleak forecast. “Home isolation is not my preferred choice. I know it is not yours, but it is a necessary one,” Newsom said today announcing his “shelter in place” policy. President Trump delivers some good news today flanked by 60-year-old Food and Drug Administration [FDA] Director Stephen Hahn. Hahn announced successful clinical trials by France’s leading infectious disease researcher Marseille-based Philippe Gautret. Gautret’s successful cure of corona virus cases involved treating them with a cocktail of hydroychlorquine, a common malaria treatment, and azithromycin. Hahn thought so highly of Gautret’s results that he fast-tracked under “compassionate use,” the treatment in the U.S. Pharmacies around the country watched supplies of hydroxychroloquine AKA Plaqueril fly off the shelves. That’s good news for treating Covid-19 cases and saving lives.
Newsom needs to reveal his source for his dire prediction that California faces 25.5 million cases of SARS CoV-2 infections in the next two months. Nowhere can anyone verify his predictions, making them all the more outrageous. If Newsom were correct today worldwide cases of 245,651 would jump into 100-200 million, rivaling the 1918 H1N1 pandemic. U.S. cases would go from 10,442 to over 100 million. Where did Newsom’s number come from? It sounds crazier than U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson when he subscribed March 15 to Sir. Patrick Vallance’s insane idea of “heard immunity.” Time for Newsom before he creates more damage in California to give the source of his dire predictions of 56% of California’s 40 million population getting infected with Covid-19 in eight weeks. No governor should make such reckless declarations without showing proof.
