b'Editorthe population of the Coastal Bend is not 600,000, their baseline for all their pre-dictive estimates, but that it is closer to 500,000. Never heard back on that one, either. Dr. Bird explained that this weeks models looked much better; it was good news that far fewer Covid-19 cases have actuallybeenreportedherebutthat wasdefinitelynotwhyhispredictions this week will be lower, having stopped him short of claiming that social distanc-ing is working better than first thought, Made in MexicoSome of the finest vehicles on the road are made at the newas his model took that into consideration. Mercedes-Benz plant in Aguascalientes. With a new trade deal in place, the timeIn another news interview, he claimed is right to shift industrial manufacturing out of China, and to our brother, Mexico. that the number of new cases last week allow their daughters in a room alone with him. He never takes responsibility for(about 20) was lower than his prediction anything, he blames and demonizes everyone who criticizes him, and he has even(of at least 3,000) because social distanc-said that he has never asked forgiveness from God. Like it or not, thats who he is. ing is working better than first thought.On Monday March 16th, however, the evolution of Trump into a serious leaderDr. Bird is an excellent and accom-who was willing to deliver bad news while taking command over the national re- plishedmarinebiologyresearcher.He sponse to a crisisthe evolution that both he and Republicans had promised wouldis not a human epidemiologist, and who one day happen, acting presidentialactually happened. At last, he became the pres- cares? It makes no difference. His and Dr. ident the country needed more than at any time since 9/11, and he led. Tissots predictions were wildly overes-The president who had avoided the White House press briefing room like thetimated, as were all of them. We might plague for three years, was now present, each and every day, at the coronavirus taskas well have just prayed in unison like force press conference. With two empty seats between the reporters in the room, toMayor McComb suggested, or listened to exhibit social distancing, President Trumps serious demeanor and on-task attitudeTrump, as they both pretty much turned was something no one had really ever seen. He very soberly delivered the news thatout to be right. Even a broken clock is the disruption to the country over Covid-19 could stretch into August. right twice a day, so they say. The Start of a SolutionDrug cartels Liberal news media and Democrats were unable to notice Trumps transitionThe truth about our Covid-19 Pan- have paralysed Mexican society, and would not comment on it if they had, and conservative media figures woulddemic of Insanity is: (1) China releasedand immigrants fleeing violence and not dare mark the change, as doing so would be an admission of who he had beenthe virus, lied about it with the help ofpoverty have created an annual crisis all along. The continued media criticism was on the administrations late responsethe WHO, covered it up and are still cov- at the U.S. border.to Covid-19 and downplaying the threat, despite their own repeated comparisonsering it up; (2) For our own greed, one to seasonal flu as late as early March. In the debate among Democratic presidentialcould say, we have outsourced produc- southofhere.IfAmericancompanies primary candidates on February 19th, the virus was not mentioned. At the end oftion of everything we need in such a cri- need cheap labor that damned bad, lets the Weekend Update segment of the February 29th episode of Saturday Night Live,sis to our geopolitical enemy, who gavetake it to Mexico, starting with anything cast member Chris Redd shouted, Black people cant get the coronavirus. Its true! us the virus; (3) We have not invested inand everything medical. All of it. Now.Democratic governors, especially Andrew Cuomo of New York, were publiclyviral epidemiology in any effective way,Factory workers in Mexico make 1/4 excoriating Trump for not providing PPE and respirators that they anticipated need- as evidenced by inept predictive modelsthat of those in China, and shipping costs ing, based on the health crisis that was being predicted by those whose models wereandslowproductionoftestsandvac- are 25% less. Why are we doing this? In being taken as gospel. Cuomo said his state was going to need 40,000 respirators tocines, and above all; (4) Covid-19 is nothe same way that the USSR was defeated handle the tidal wave of critical Covid-19 patients that experts were saying was onmore deadly to healthy people than theby the U.S. outspending them on defense, its wayTrump was raked over the coals for saying he thought that was too many.seasonal flu, and we just undid a decadeChinas dangerous influence in the world He was right, once again. Even at the peak of hospitalizations in New York City, notof economic growth, ruining the lives ofwill come to a screeching halt if half of a single patient was denied ICU admission or respiration. millions,becauseourelectedofficialstheir manufacturing exports, about $2.5 Could it have been our blind acceptance of the predictions of healthcare ex- panicked and had no idea what to do. trillionperyear,originatedelsewhere. perts that has landed us not into the greatest public health crisis in American his- Forthosewhoknowthiseditori- Mexicos entire GDP is $1.2 trillion. If that tory, but into the worst (and fastest) implosion of an economy in the history of theal staff well, laugh while all of us cry doubled, the drug cartels would go away, world? As for our local model on Covid-19 infections in the Coastal Bend, we hadTrump was right on this, and yes, it hurtstheillegalimmigrationwouldgoaway, a chance to ask Dr. Chris Bird about the legitimacy of the model he presented tolike hell to say it. It hurts even more toand a nice side effect might be deadly vi-elected officials on April 10th, in which his graph clearly showed a peak of up tosee our country and our community suf- ralinfectionsthatcatapultourcountry 100,000 infections by the end of April, in his best case scenario of maintainingfering for no good reason. into poverty and despair, might go away.social distancing orders. ThiswasallcompletelyvoluntaryAmericanshavealonghistoryof First, Dr. Bird denied his graph, saying that his predicted peak was at the endand even if we dont lose 675,000 Amer- great comebacks, and our recovery from of June and not the end of April, while offering a supplemental graph that still didicanslikeintheSpanishFlucanwethe Covid-19 crisis must be among our not show a peak at the end of June. We can all see the graph he presented to theplease learn something this time and dogreatest. What doesnt kill us must make publicand a PhD is not required to read it. Even we dummies can see that it illus- something about it? us strongerwe owe it to ourselves, our trated a peak at the end of April of almost 100,000 infections. We asked about thatLets start by saying Zijin to Chi- kids and our country to grow stronger in an email after our interview, and we never heard back. We also pointed out thatna, and Hola to our real friends 150 milesand much, much smarter. The Editor28 THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINEFEATURED: The Stories that Mattered TheCoastalBend.com'