The decision on when to re-open their states will probably be the most difficult decision each governor will make during their respective tenures, so it would be nice if the media would be willing to grant the conversation the nuance it deserves. Unfortunately, on Tuesday afternoon's CNN Newsroom, Dr. Seema Yasmin claimed that the only reason why some states might chose to re-open is because of "political posturing and about science denialism."
Host Brianna Keilar tried to get at the difficult realities facing governors, "On one hand they're saying, look, we have to do this. Our economies are dying and people are hurting financially. On the other hand they're violating even White House recommendations for reopening." She then asked Yasmin, "What are your concerns here?"\
Yasmin began by condemning the supposed arrogance of certain governors, "I don't know if these lawmakers realize that we have ways in public health of calculating the death tolls that are directly attributable to their actions."
She then saw an analogy with the "HIV pandemic where we saw leadership that cared less about the lives of residents and cared much more about political posturing and about science denialism." Yasmin then singled out Georgia's Brian Kemp for criticism as he plans to lift Georgia's lockdown before meeting the White House recommendations.
According to Yasmin this was proof that, "these governors really are showing and I think signaling so clearly that they care much more about reputations, their friendship with the president than they do about the lives of their constituents." At that moment, the CNN chyron read, "Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Colorado to start reopening businesses despite not meeting WH guidelines." Colorado's governor, Jared Polis, is a Democrat. It's hard to imagine he is concerned about his friendship with Trump.
Keilar then stated, "Look you're not a political expert, but I think we could probably agree that a clear line between mishandling something and increasing deaths is not politically good. So what you're saying is that if you are looking at these states that are reopening, you're going to know in time if they did this to the big detriment of the lives of their constituents."
Yasmin, the supposed non-political expert then proceeded to continue to pile on red states, "But with states like South Carolina and Georgia, it is just absolutely terrifying and it is reckless governance when we're still seeing an uptick in cases to be talking about nail salons opening in Georgia on Friday and movie theaters next Monday. Those are high contact places. And we've really need to see the kind of governance that shows us those leaders care about public health more than they do about politics."
At no point did Yasmin address the economic concerns of the millions of people who are now unemployed. A little humility from CNN could have gone a long way to address their concerns.
As for her politics, she's obviously a good match for CNN, as this recent tweet suggests:
Here is a transcript for the April 21 show:
CNN
CNN Newsroom
3:21
BRIANNA KEILAR: You're watching some of these states that are starting to reopen businesses as early as Friday. On one hand they're saying, look, we have to do this. Our economies are dying and people are hurting financially. On the other hand they're violating even White House recommendations for reopening. What are your concerns here?
SEEMA YASMIN: I don't know if these lawmakers realize that we have ways in public health of calculating the death tolls that are directly attributable to their actions. We've seen the same mistakes made with the HIV pandemic where we saw leadership that cared less about the lives of residents and cared much more about political posturing and about science denialism.I’m so concerned in states like Georgia where we have the 14th highest rates of infection in the U.S., the 7th lower rates of testing, and last week we saw more than 5,700 new cases which was an uptick from the week ending April 5th that they’re even flouting the White House guidance about seeing a two-week decline in trend in new cases. So these governors really are showing and I think signaling so clearly that they care much more about reputations, their friendship with the president than they do about the lives of their constituents
KEILAR: Long term though, you're saying-- look you're not a political expert but I think we could probably agree that a clear line between mishandling something and increasing deaths is not politically good. So what you're saying is that if you are looking at these states that are reopening, you're going to know in time if they did this to the big detriment of the lives of their constituents.
YASMIN: That is exactly what I'm saying. I'm not speaking as a political expert. But very much as an epidemiologist and public health expert who could say we've seen these lessons before with the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the mismanagement of other infectious disease epidemics where poor governance leads to many, many preventable deaths. And even just now, Brianna, we could look to Hong Kong, to Singapore to cities like Harbin in China whereas containment measures were lifted rather responsibly, we saw almost immediately an uptick in cases and that is what we need to be mitigating against here in the States.There are some states that are almost approaching maybe even starting to be past that peak including Massachusetts, Michigan and New York and they're still trying to be prudent in most cases. But with states like South Carolina and Georgia, it is just absolutely terrifying and it is reckless governance when we're still seeing an uptick in cases to be talking about nail salons opening in Georgia on Friday and movie theaters next Monday. Those are high contact places. And we've really need to see the kind of governance that shows us those leaders care about public health more than they do about politics.
