Declaring to the nation Wednesday from the Rose Garden at the White House that he's "feeling great" after a bout with COVID-19, President Biden made a series of statements that are not backed by the current science, including suggesting that people wear a mask indoors.
When Biden once again touted the vaccines – which don't stop infection, as his own case illustrates – he relied on a number of false or unprovable assumptions in a dig at former President Trump.
"Here's the bottom line: When my predecessor got COVID he had to get helicoptered to Walter Reed Medical Center," said Biden.
"He was severely ill. Thankfully he recovered."
Biden boasted that, in contrast, when he got COVID, he "worked from upstairs of the White House ... for the five-day period."
"The difference is vaccinations, of course," he said.
The problem with that statement is that people, including President Trump, who are believed to have caught the original Wuhan strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus were more prone to severe illness than those infected by the omicron strain and its subvariants, which now dominate.
The BA.4 and BA.5 strains typically present with mild symptoms, akin to the common cold, in the unvaccinated as well as the vaccinated. Biden tested positive for BA.5.
Trump, for his part, also worked during his recovery from COVID-19 in October 2020. He was taken to Walter Reed, his staff said, "out of an abundance of caution."
Biden insisted Wednesday that everyone needs to get a booster shot, claiming most COVID deaths are among people who are "not up to date on their shots."
But real-world data and studies don't support that assertion.
Newly released government data from England, for example, showed that 93% of the 5,678 COVID deaths in April and May were of vaccinated people. The government Coronavirus Dashboard reports 93% of the population older than 12 had a first dose of the vaccine, 87% had a second dose and 70% had a third dose.
Biden was among the many officials who promised one year ago that people who got vaccinated would not get COVID-19, which was the premise for the vaccine mandates imposed by his administration.
As for masking, more than 150 studies show masks are ineffective at stopping the spread of COVID-19 and pose many potential harms. The World Health Organization said as much at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.
In late May, New York Times senior writer David Leonhardt reported the data show that in U.S. cities "where mask use has been more common, Covid has spread at a similar rate as in mask-resistant cities."
See Biden's remarks Wednesday comparing himself to Trump:
President Biden contrasts his COVID-19 case to Donald Trump's in 2020, when Trump had not yet gotten vaccinated:
"When my predecessor got COVID, he had to get helicoptered to Walter Reed Medical Center ... When I got COVID, I worked from upstairs in the White House." pic.twitter.com/z8M7w3GBSB
— The Recount (@therecount) July 27, 2022
Biden insisted everyone should get a booster shot, stating most COVID deaths are among people who are "not up to date on their shots":
Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/Sprl5hlMox
— TexasLindsay™ (@TexasLindsay_) July 27, 2022
via wnd