FactChecking Biden’s Town Hall

[PeteS in CA]

FactChecking Biden’s Town Hall

https://www.factcheck.org/2020/09/factchecking-bidens-town-hall/

* Biden made the far-fetched claim that data show President Donald Trump could have prevented “all” of the U.S. deaths from COVID-19 if he “had done his job.” There’s no research that supports such a claim.

* Biden wrongly claimed the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently said “wearing masks would save 100,000” U.S. residents from dying of COVID-19 between now and January. That’s a projection from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, not the CDC director.

FactCheck.org pointed out that Biden's claim that all Covid deaths could have been avoided had Trump "done his job" is far-fetched, with no supporting data or mention of what Trump had supposedly failed to do. It could also have been pointed out that multiple European nations have date rates similar to that of the US, deaths not remotely attributable to Trump. These nations took precautions, yet the outcome was similar.

The claim about masks and the underlying "study" ignores a very basic fact. In January, February, and March, the "scientists" the Dems claim Trump ignored recommended against healthy people wearing masks. It was only in April that this recommendation was reversed. Here's a sample of what I've found:

January 30, 2020 - CDC recommended against people wearing face masks; https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-cdc-says-americans-dont-have-to-wear-facemasks-because-of-coronavirus-2020-01-30

January 30, 2020 - Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the Center for the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said, "We don’t routinely recommend the use of face masks by the public to prevent respiratory illness. And we certainly are not recommending that at this time for this new virus."; https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-cdc-says-americans-dont-have-to-wear-facemasks-because-of-coronavirus-2020-01-30 ; https://abcnews.go.com/Health/delta-suspends-us-flights-china-amid-coronavirus/story?id=68666037

February 13, 2020 - CDC has released new information regarding the use of PPE, including masks; the general public is advised to not use facemasks; https://www.krqe.com/health/coronavirus/nmdoh-cdc-advise-general-public-against-using-facemasks-to-prevent-coronavirus/

February 29, 2020 - Surgeon General Jerome Adams, "(Masks) are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus";

https://twitter.com/Surgeon_General/status/1233725785283932160

March 2, 2020 - Surgeon General Jerome Adams, "(Masks have) not been proven to be effective in preventing the spread of coronavirus amongst the general public"; https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/surgeon-general-against-masks/

March 8, 2020 - Dr. Anthony Fauci, "There's no reason to be walking around with a mask"; https://www.cbsnews.com/news/preventing-coronavirus-facemask-60-minutes-2020-03-08/

March 30, 2020 - Arleen Purcell, CDC spokeswoman, reiterated existing CDC guidelines that people who are well should not wear the masks to prevent contracting the virus; https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/30/coronavirus-masks-trump-administration-156327

March 30, 2020 - Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO health emergencies program, said, "There is no specific evidence to suggest that the wearing of masks by the mass population has any potential benefit."; https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/30/world/coronavirus-who-masks-recommendation-trnd/index.html

March 30, 2020 - Dr. Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist with the WHO said, "In the community, we do not recommend the use of wearing masks unless you yourself are sick ..."; https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/30/world/coronavirus-who-masks-recommendation-trnd/index.html

March 31, 2020 - Surgeon General Jerome Adams, "What the World Health Organization [WHO] and the CDC [The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] have reaffirmed in the last few days is that they do not recommend the general public wear masks."; https://www.foxnews.com/media/surgeon-general-explains-masks-public-coronavirus

March 31, 2020 - CDC reconsidering advice against public wearing of masks to prevent Covid-19 spread; https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/mar/31/cdc-mask-recommendarions-coronavirus-being-reconsi/

Dr. Messonnier said something else in that January 30 briefing that is interesting, "We are preparing as if this was the next pandemic". https://abcnews.go.com/Health/delta-suspends-us-flights-china-amid-coronavirus/story?id=68666037 This was over a month before WHO declared Covid-19 a pandemic, and it was said at a press briefing.