As winter sets in, cases of COVID-19 are rising dramatically in the liberal stronghold of California, but the pandemic-fatigued public and mainstream media don’t seem to care.
The Biden-Harris Administration is announcing our Winter COVID-19 Preparedness Plan today – focused on making updated vaccines, testing, and treatments even more widely available and accessible as cases increase. https://t.co/JVSA3LRanI
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 15, 2022
Unlike the Trump administration, the Biden white house has largely received a pass from mainstream media outlets on rising rates of COVID-19 infections. As of today, California is reporting a positivity rate of 10.6% and nearly 7,400 new cases of COVID daily, according to the state’s online tracker. Considering another 20 COVID-related deaths are reported each day in the state, it’s hard to believe this isn’t a 24-hour headline.
As the Biden administration passes a record $1.7 trillion spending bill, it’s largely passed the blame for increasing COVID rates on to congress. In a press briefing at the white house this month, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha claimed to be operating in a “resource-constrained environment”. He pointed the finger at Congress for a lack of additional funding to support the nation’s response.
However, Congress has been controlled by the Democrats for over two years, with President Biden supposedly at the party’s helm. In 2021, President Biden unsuccessfully urged congress to authorize an additional $22.5 billion to fund increased COVID response. Again in 2022, the Biden administration asked for $10 billion in increased COVID response as part of the Omnibus spending bill, and again President Biden was snubbed by his own party.
The mainstream media is also largely ignoring the spike in COVID cases. One report by the San Francisco Chronicle suggests “apathy” is to blame, suggesting that the general public in California is fatigued on pandemic-related coverage and mandates. This comes at a time when California accounts for more than 10% of the nation’s new daily cases, according to a CDC report.
This is a stark contrast to the media’s response to the pandemic during the Trump administration when all eyes were on the white house 24 hours a day. President Trump gave daily briefings on the Coronavirus response, while President Biden seems to avoid speaking directly to the press whenever he can.
According to the University of Santa Barbara American Presidency Project, President Trump had more than 267% more interactions with the media than President Biden. In fact, President Trump had more interactions with the media than any other president in history, other than President Bill Clinton who served twice the time in office.
