If the coronavirus has taught us anything, it’s that some things are beyond our own control and we must learn to accept and adjust to it.
We may have the best intentions and take all the necessary safety precautions, but Covid-19 has time and again reminded us that the pandemic will not be easily tamed or controlled. Perhaps, like me, you have known family or friends who have been affected by the virus. Fortunately, I have not personally known any of the 215,000-some Americans who have lost their lives to the pandemic. (To those who have lost a friend or loved one to this insidious illness, you have my sincere sympathy.)
The pandemic is still in control. Numbers of confirmed positive cases continue to fluctuate and are back on the rise. It’s not going away.
The coronavirus has struck the Trump White House at a most inopportune time, when the president has been losing ground in the polls for months. Battleground states such as Iowa and Arizona are tilting toward challenger Joe Biden’s favor. Other states Trump won in 2016 are gradually gravitating toward the former vice president.
The worst may be yet to come. After the president, the first lady and much of his staff tested positive for the coronavirus two weeks ago, the press corps is reportedly iffy about getting within 6 feet of the president and his staff during the remaining days of Trump’s re-election campaign. The president and his contingency continue to campaign as if there were no pandemic. They travel in groups without wearing masks, often making mask wearing optional, and they are certainly not social distancing — all of which led to the president’s recent three-day hospitalization and stay at Walter Reed Medical Center.
But that didn’t stop Trump from traveling to Florida after he was released from the hospital to speak at a rally in a forum filled with people not wearing any face covering last Saturday. During the event, the president told the mostly unmasked crowd gathering that the virus would soon disappear.
But the media who cover his every move are not convinced and apparently are no longer willing to threaten their or their family’s lives. The New York Times reports that many major news-gathering organizations, including the Times, have become leery of sending any of its journalists to accompany the president and his aides during these next few weeks remaining before the election. The president and his staff refuse to acknowledge the virus and its potential risk to public health, even after he and many of them risked their own lives. The president, his staff and others who subscribe to his do-nothing stance snub protocols and are too focused on getting back to normal when normal is not within our control.
This ignorance also could hurt any opportunity for more debates or town hall meetings at a time when the president needs to make up ground. The press is gun shy about being in his or his aides’ presence and are no longer willing to cover such political events.
The greater disservice here is the lack of safe access for the press. This administration has frequently been most unhospitable, to say the least, of the press and its right to be present, to chronicle or simply get this president to answer questions. The people have the right to hear and know what their president thinks and knows to set the tone for the sake of the nation’s health and safety, especially at a time when our government prepares for possible transition of power. Access to the White House and the executive branch are most crucial at this time.
Access, in general, has been trivialized throughout this administration. Trump’s past refusal to accommodate the press is egregious because he has ultimately snubbed the people, especially those who elected him to office. His refusal to acknowledge the virus and its serious risks to public health are unforgiveable. Journalists should not be forced to choose between performing their jobs and protecting their and their family’s health.
The fact remains that this pandemic is still not through and more lives will be impacted, until we have a reliable vaccine. I believe in science and that it will eventually bring the novel coronavirus under control. A vaccine will come, at some point in time, although not soon enough for us and at our convenience.
Will Buss teaches broadcasting and journalism at Western Illinois University.
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October 15, 2020 at 03:19AM
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The pandemic is still in control - News - McDonough Voice
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