The President Got COVID-19, What Now? By: Sam Di Santi
On October 2nd, 2020, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19 and made their announcement on Twitter. Rumors were flying, the night before the First Couple were tested, Hope Hicks, President Trump's close advisor had tested positive. When the news first came out that the President and First Lady had COVID-19, the response was less than appropriate. From countless people on Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, and other social media outlets only hatred was spread and ill wishes for our President. In some comments on Tiktok (images attached below), many people were stating things like, "can't say karma didn't do her job", "We've been waiting for this[sss] one", "It is what it is", "Karma at its hardest", "I hope he dies", and "Yes[sss] finally some good news!" All of these comments are extremely disgusting and horrifying. Regardless of a person's political beliefs, wishing ill will, death, or sickness on anyone is despicable. The idea was that Donald Trump deserved COVID-19 because he had been playing it down for months, so he got a taste of his own medicine. Even if that were true, wishing death upon the President of the United States is never the right thing to do. If President Trump had died, who would that benefit? Whether or not people like him, he is still the President until the end of his four-year term. If he dies, then Vice President Mike Pence will take his role as Commander in Chief. No matter your feelings about Pence and his policy, a major switch in power less than a month before the election is good for no one. If anything, people should be rooting for the President to survive, not because they like his personality, but because they have the best interest of the country in mind. Mike Pence taking his spot this late in the game could change everything, and people who know very little about Pence may be inclined to vote on the Democratic ticket instead, completely changing election results. The same is true for Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, some people may decide they like Pence better and last-minute change their decision. This chaos so late in the game is not beneficial for anyone, and wishing death upon any person, no matter who they are, is never acceptable.
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| These screenshots were taken on 10/10/2020 at 9:22 AM. There is some support in the comments, but most of them are wishing death on the President, or saying he got what he deserved. Social Media Response: However, many Social Media outlets came out denouncing people who make comments like these. Twitter came out on 10/2/2020 stating that "tweets that wish or hope for death, serious bodily harm or fatal disease against *anyone* are not allowed and will need to be removed. this does not automatically mean suspension" (Fauzia 1). Other news outlets followed suit, including Facebook and Instagram. This was met with praise from many people, but most didn't find it impressive. This policy is apart of the community guidelines on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Hate speech, bullying, or clearly wishing for the harm of another person has never been allowed. These social media outlets were just enforcing the rules they already had and stating these rules applied to everyone, which was the assumption when they were created. While it was nice of them to remove the posts, if anything, they did the bare minimum since this is the basic rule in their guidelines. Twitter's community guidelines clearly state "Abuse/harassment: You may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so. This includes wishing or hoping that someone experiences physical harm" (Twitter 1). They enforced their rules, which they always should have done. President Trump's Recovery: After all the chaos that had ensued once it was announced the President and First Lady were COVID-19 positive, things seemed to be going downhill for President Trump. After one night being quarantined in the White House, President Trump was moved to Walter Reed Medical Center to receive more treatment and care under the recommendation of the White House Physician, Sean Conley. He stayed at Walter Reed for three nights and returned to the White House on October 5th, since then he has continued to quarantine. Dr. Sean Conley stated on October 8th, that President Trump could return to the campaign trail as soon as October 10th if his condition continues to follow the upward trajectory it has been on. As of today, he is continuing to get better and has been working in the Oval Office for a few days, there haven't been many updates on Melania Trump, but as far as the public knows, she has been doing well and was never sent to Walter Reed. Medical Treatment Controversy: President Trump was treated with a few different drugs to help him get better. He does have some risk factors such as his senior citizen status (he is 74 years old), his weight, and other previous health problems, so medical professionals wanted to do all they could to prevent the virus from causing too much damage. He was treated with steroid dexamethasone and Gilead's remdesivir. These drugs are not very controversial, and most people didn't take issue with them, however, an experimental antibody drug from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has drawn a lot of criticism, from Pro-Choice and Pro-Life supporters alike. The claim is that the antibody cocktail Trump received during his stay at Walter Reed was made from the stem cells of aborted babies. Donald Trump has been unapologetically Pro-Life all throughout his presidency. This means he is against abortion and would like to overturn Roe v. Wade, making abortion laws vary state by state. He stated at the 47th Annual March for Life, "All of us here today understand an eternal truth: Every child is a precious and sacred gift from God. Together, we must protect, cherish, and defend the dignity and sanctity of every human life" (Trump 1). Some even claim that Donald Trump is the most Pro-Life president America has ever had, so this was concerning for many Pro-Life supporters. Many Pro-Choicers pointed out the hypocrisy if Trump had used a drug made from aborted fetal tissue, how could he be Pro-Life, but benefit from aborted babies when he needed it? This concern is understandable and Pro-Lifers also became worried, what if the President they believed to be so unequivocally and undoubtedly Pro-Life was inconsistent with his beliefs?  Regeneron's Response: This would be concerning if it were true. Regeneron came out with a statement, making it clear that "This particular discovery program (REGN-COV2) did not involve human stem cells or ESCs" (Bowie 1). Regeneron's anti-viral cocktail is a combination of two monoclonal antibodies, these antibodies, were engineered to lock onto SARS-CoV-2's protein, this is meant to prevent the virus from interacting with its target on the surface of the host cells. The first clinical trial for REGN-COV2 began in late June and is now in late-stage four. They have recruited at least 11,000 participants combined (Philippidis 1). In its experiments with golden hamsters and monkeys, it was able to reduce the viral load of COVID-19. In COVID-19 positive patients ranging from asymptomatic to more moderate cases, the viral load was also reduced. While this drug is experimental, it has worked very well so far, so the White House doctor prescribed it to the president, hoping to give him his best chance at recovery. The statement from Regeneron said that REGN-COV2 monoclonal antibodies "do appear to be derived from a B cell line isolated from a human donor.... and an immunized mouse engineered to have a human immune system" (Cohen 1). However, some research indicated that in the beginning phases of this clinical trial there were some fetal derived cells used. Specifically, immortalized epithelial cells from embryonic kidney cells, derived in 1972. They were described as being "briefly" used to create SARS-CoV-2 to test mouse and human antibodies against. However, Regeneron also debunked this rumor. Alexandra Bowie stated, "The 293T cell line was originally derived from human embryonic kidney cells but is an immortalized epithelial cell – so not a stem cell" (Bowie 1). This means that embryonic stem cells were not used to treat the President, and he did nothing to contradict his own beliefs. Mainstream media outlets ran with this claim before they had all the facts. The New York Times, the New York Post, The Guardian, the Hill, Business Insider, and many others claimed Trump was a complete hypocrite for using this drug, but they didn't know the whole story.  What does this Convey to the American People?: The main idea that the media twists information to most benefit the party they're biased too has always been a well-known fact, especially in recent days with such polarization of the two main parties. However, the media conspiracy about fetal stem cells, the initial response wishing death upon the president, and the overall deplorable behavior of many Americas further prove that the media has their own agenda and will conveniently leave out facts for the party they're trying to benefit. This is true on both sides of the political aisle, there are very few news outlets anymore that are unbiased, it's almost impossible to find non-partisan information. This is why it's so important that people do their own research before just reading a headline and running with it as fact, not spin. This whole situation also describes to the American people that anyone can get COVID-19. If the POTUS, the man with the most protection in the country, can get it then we all have to be extra careful as well and take proper precautions. Did President Trump "Deserve" the Virus?: There were many claims that Trump deserved this because he downplayed the Coronavirus and wasn't aggressive enough when it came to his policy against it. The facts are, according to the CDC, from ages 0-54 the mortality reaches a high of 0.5%. From ages 75-84, the mortality rate reaches 4.3%, and from ages 85+ the mortality rate reaches 10.4%. Comparing this to China, the mortality rate in their citizen's ages 80 or older was 14.8%. This upward trend in mortality as a person gets older makes sense, as a person gets older their immune system gets weaker making them more susceptible to diseases like this. I want to be clear, this by no means diminishes or minimizes the loss of people from COVID-19, any loss from this dreadful disease is a horrible one and should be mourned. However, Trump has been using these same numbers to convey the reasoning behind his policy. He has not diminished anything, these numbers are from the CDC and are fact, anything else is spin to make the president look bad with the election fast approaching. Whether or not he did a good job containing the virus is a different question, but he hasn't downplayed it and is using facts directly from the most trusted source in this situation, the CDC. Overall Conclusion: Overall, this whole situation has shown the American people more about the Main Stream Media and how they often jump the gun in making conclusions. It has conveyed to more people that they should still continue to take precautions with COVID-19 as it was able to infect the most important leader of the Western world and that no matter what party a person may be wishing ill will towards anyone is never the answer.   Works Cited: Works Cited Al Jazeera. “How Donald Trump's COVID-19 Illness Unfolded: A Timeline.” US & Canada | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 7 Oct. 2020, www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/7/timeline-what-we-know-about-trumps-covid-19-case. Baker, Peter, and Maggie Haberman. “Trump Tests Positive for the Coronavirus.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 Oct. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/10/02/us/politics/trump-covid.html. “COVIDView: A Weekly Surveillance Summary of U.S. COVID-19 Activity.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html. Fauzia, Miriam. “Fact Check: Trump's Antibody Therapy Not Made from Fetal Stem Cells but Fetal-Derived Cells Used during Testing.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 8 Oct. 2020, www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/10/08/fact-check-trumps-antibody-therapy-not-made-fetal-stem-cells/5901542002/. Jon CohenOct. 5, 2020, et al. “Update: Here's What Is Known about Trump's COVID-19 Treatment.” Science, 8 Oct. 2020, www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/10/heres-what-known-about-president-donald-trump-s-covid-19-treatment. Liptak, Kevin. “Trump Taken to Walter Reed Medical Center and Will Be Hospitalized 'for the Next Few Days'.” CNN, Cable News Network, 3 Oct. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/10/02/politics/president-donald-trump-walter-reed-coronavirus/index.html. Molina, Brett. “Twitter Says It Will Remove Posts Wishing or Hoping for Trump's Death.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 5 Oct. 2020, www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/10/05/twitter-says-posts-wishing-trumps-death-removed/3623103001/. Philippidis, Alex, et al. “Trump's Treatments: Regeneron's Antibodies and Gilead's Remdesivir Explained.” GEN, 5 Oct. 2020, www.genengnews.com/insights/trumps-treatments-regenerons-antibodies-and-gileads-remdesivir-explained/. “Remarks by President Trump at the 47th Annual March for Life.” The White House, The United States Government, www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-47th-annual-march-life/. Smith, Kate. “COVID Treatment Trump Touted as a ‘Cure’ Was Developed Using Cells Derived from Aborted Fetal Tissue.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 9 Oct. 2020, www.cbsnews.com/news/regeneron-trump-covid-aborted-fetal-tissue/. Sonnemaker, Tyler. “80% Of US Coronavirus Deaths Have Been among People 65 and Older, a New CDC Report Says - Here's What It Reveals about the US Cases.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 18 Mar. 2020, www.businessinsider.com/most-us-coronavirus-deaths-ages-65-older-cdc-report-2020-3#china-has-also-seen-the-highest-portion-of-coronavirus-deaths-among-older-patients-5. “The Twitter Rules.” Twitter, Twitter, help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/twitter-rules. |
The media and social media are good for many reasons, but they can also make things far worse!
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