CBS 13 News: RFK Jr. in West Virginia to talk food dyes, SNAP benefits

[xocetaceans]

From about 32:44 to 34:05 in the video, RFK, Jr. speaks about Covid-19, the death toll due to Covid-19 in the US, his assessment of why the death toll was what it was, and what his proposal for pandemic preparedness is. He says the following:

"During Covid, we had 16% of the Covid deaths in this country. We only have 4.2% of the world's population. So, we literally did worse than any country in the world. And when you ask CDC why are Americans dying from Covid at higher rates than any place on Earth when we have all the money? They said, 'Well, it's not our fault. It's because Americans are so sick.' That is their fault. And we're going to change that. But they said that according to...according to CDC, the average American who died from Covid had 3.8 chronic diseases. So, they had diabetes. They had obesity. And, you know, maybe asthma and one other thing. And it was the chronic disease really that was killing them. Healthy kids were not dying. Healthy Americans were not dying of Covid. It was a disease that attacked the sick. That's true with all infectious diseases. If we can make ourselves...The biggest thing we can do for pandemic preparedness is to make ourselves healthy again."

So, a contributing factor to all of the deaths from Covid-19 in the US was the lack of seriousness with which the Trump Administration addressed the pandemic. Only after the markets started to collapse did Trump lessen his faith in the fanciful idea that SARS-CoV-2 would just magically disappear. Then, there was Trump's reliance on Ivermectin, which has been conclusively shown not to be an effective treatment for Covid-19. And there was his idea that "bright light" illuminating the body would to some extent turn the tide. And there was the other idea, which Trump pushed, that strong disinfectants could be used somehow, etc.

With the absence of the leadership needed to unite the country, the idiocy of the "Great" Barrington Declaration, the perceived "inconvenience" of the introduction of wearing masks and social distancing, and the action of anti-vaccine groups like RFK, Jr.'s CHD eroding trust in public health, the US had splintered into roughly two populations-- one group of people who seemed to espouse the right to have the personal freedom to put others at risk rather than suffer the inconvenience of caring not to do so, and one group of people who were doing their best not to allow the SARS-CoV-2 virus to spread more widely than could be prevented.

So, when RFK, Jr. poses the question as to why the US had so many deaths from Covid-19 relative to other countries in the world, he need look no further than a mirror and Donald Trump, for both he and Trump are in different ways quite responsible for shaping the atmosphere in this country that led to those deaths. Given the reality of that statement, the best thing the US could actually do towards pandemic preparedness would be to summarily remove RFK, Jr. from his position as Secretary of Health and Human Services and, following that, impeach, convict and remove Donald Trump the insurrectionist from the Office of the Presidency.

Lastly, it is trivially easy to contradict RFK, Jr.'s analysis of how infectious diseases behave and who they "attack". His metaphor is that of lions hunting wildebeest:i.e., the weak and sick of the "herd" are "attacked". Instead, viruses simply infect those people whom they are able to infect. There is no viral judgement or assessment of sickness or of weakness in the process of infection: roughly speaking, the "attack" is enacted by biochemical processes at the cellular level. Vaccines enable the body's immune system to be prepared to fight such a viral infection much faster than the body could if its immune system had not been pre-exposed to the virus via the vaccine. So, does Ebola seek out the weak and the sick for infection? Does the flu seek out the weak and the sick for infection? No, they don't. These viruses opportunistically infect those who can be infected.

Finally, it should be said that RFK, Jr. is a dangerously deluded individual who should be nowhere near any office that has any responsibility for either the public good or public health, for his willful ignorance in the service of his greed is a threat to us all.





To learn more about vaccines, viruses, and related topics, please see the offerings at Microbe TV:

Virology Lectures 2025:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGhmZX2NKiNm2iEUtVslIUHTW9i2zAG72

This Week in Virology:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL55B28888146FAD78

Beyond the Noise--with Dr. Paul Offit:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGhmZX2NKiNkXveaffE9-A2-Nl_ka-n9z

etc.

Or consult the offerings of Debunk the Funk with Dr. Wilson:

https://www.youtube.com/@DebunktheFunkwithDrWilson

[Festivito]

1. WV near bottom invites RFK Jr also near bottom but looks like a step above WV. Applause please.

We lost more to Covid because as a nation we are sicker. (Forget the bad information and action from Trump.)