Federal Prompts for Gov. Bill Lee to Issue Statewide Mask Mandate Begs Question of Who Is Behind the Idea

Tennessee is ranked fourth in the nation for COVID deaths per 100,000 people, WUOT reports, citing the White House Coronavirus Task Force’s red zone report, which calls for Gov. Bill Lee to implement a statewide mask mandate.

The controversial report is from earlier this month. The task force issues frequent red zone reports.

Read More

John Fredericks Commentary: Dr. Birx Goes on Self-Serving CYA Tour – Throws Trump Under the Bus

In a bizarre and brazen attempt at long-term self-preservation at the expense of her boss, President Trump, GA Governor Brian Kemp and business owners struggling for survival, Dr. Deborah Birx donned her scarf and embarked on a 14-state blatant CYA tour to revive her sagging reputation.

To small business owners struggling for economic salvation and unemployed hard-working Americans with rent and mortgage payments due, Dr. Birx has a simple message: let them eat cake.

Read More

Commentary: Wisdom In a Time of Botched Models, Bad Advice, and Deadly Illness

The virus will teach us many things, but one lesson has already been relearned by the American people: there are two, quite different, types of wisdom.

One, and the most renowned, is a specialization in education that results in titled degrees and presumed authority. That ensuing prestige, in turn, dictates the decisions of most politicians, the media, and public officials – who for the most part share the values and confidence of the credentialed elite.

The other wisdom is not, as commonly caricatured, know-nothingism. Indeed, Americans have always believed in self-improvement and the advantages of higher education, a trust that explained broad public 19th-century support for mandatory elementary and secondary schooling and, during the postwar era, the G.I. Bill.

But the other wisdom also puts a much higher premium on pragmatism and experience, values instilled by fighting nature daily and mixing it up with those who must master the physical world.

Read More

As Death Toll Climbs, Federal Health Officials See ‘Encouraging Signs’ of Slowing Number of Cases

Acknowledging the mounting death toll, President Donald Trump and members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force said Friday that improvements in New York, New Jersey, Louisiana, Michigan and other coronavirus hot spots indicate that the nation’s response to the pandemic is working to slow COVID-19’s spread.

Read More

White House Coronavirus Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx Forcefully Rejects Doomsday Scenario

Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House task force on coronavirus, took a crack Wednesday at scientific models that have projected doomsday scenarios for the coronavirus pandemic, saying the estimates do not take into account adjustments made to stop the spread of the virus.

“And I think the numbers that have been put out there are actually very frightening to people,” Birx said of some of the models that have projected that between 50% to 60% of the population could become infected.

Read More

CDC Data Shows Younger Adults Also End Up in Hospital from Coronavirus

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday released its first batch of data on coronavirus patients in the United States, showing that while older adults are more likely to experience severe problems with the virus, younger adults are also falling seriously ill.

Read More