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Keep calm and carry on

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* The President of the United States has clearly decided to allow governors to take the frontline lead on the COVID-19 battle. His Department of Homeland Security and the CDC have issued several bits of “guidance” to the states, but not orders.

That has resulted in a patchwork-quilt response across the country. Our restaurants and taverns were closed on March 15th, but Wisconsin’s weren’t closed until two days later. Missouri’s governor has still not ordered them closed. That state hasn’t shut down much of anything, although individual school districts and municipalities are making closing decisions themselves.

* Gov. JB Pritzker said this today on CNN…

“These orders that the governors have led on, you know, I led with canceling gatherings of a certain size in our state and then we closed schools,” Pritzker said. “We moved on now to a stay-at home order. These should’ve been done nationally, they haven’t been.”

And then things predictably escalated…

“Governor of Illinois, and a very small group of certain other Governors, together with Fake News @CNN & Concast (MSDNC), shouldn’t be blaming the Federal Government for their own shortcomings,” he tweeted. “We are there to back you up should you fail, and always will be!”

Pritzker tweeted back, “You wasted precious months when you could’ve taken action to protect Americans & Illinoisans. You should be leading a national response instead of throwing tantrums from the back seat. Where were the tests when we needed them? Where’s the PPE? Get off Twitter & do your job.”

* There is zero doubt that the White House has bungled its response from Jump St. and continues to do so. I mean, for crying out loud some supplies are so tight that the CDC issued this horrifying guidance the other day…

In settings where facemasks are not available, HCP [healthcare personnel] might use homemade masks (e.g., bandana, scarf) for care of patients with COVID-19 as a last resort.

So, do we really want that very same White House taking a policy and action lead?

* Plus, Pritzker himself has regularly allowed local institutions to get out in front of him. Some public and private Illinois schools (including the Chicago Archdiocese) shut themselves down before Pritzker acted.

And to this very day, universities are all devising their own individual response policies. The following is the governor’s office response to a legislator’s question…

Q: How are State university employees to interpret whether they are essential or not? Any direction?

A: State University are still internally discussing that process and are encouraged to use discretion as each institution is unique.

Each state is also unique in its own way as well. So it stands to reason that the governor should heed his own advice.

* Governor, if you’re going on national TV again, stop patting yourself on the back and picking fights with the president. Stick to indisputable facts, which are mostly on your side. Presenting cold hard facts is more than enough to make your case that the White House continues to fall far short.

I’ve called you “Gov. Chillax” in the past. When you appear boastful and rattled these days, that rattles me. And if I’m rattled, imagine the message you’re sending to everyone else. /rant

posted by Rich Miller
Sunday, Mar 22, 20 @ 1:40 pm

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