I know I am speaking for millions of people when I say Dr. Sanjay Gupta is a national treasure this year. So today we will give him the first and last word.
Then he used another Dickens line: “This is the age of wisdom, that is the age of stupidity.”
“This is true,” Dr. Gupta wrote. “Remember that we both live at the same time, and the vaccine takes some time to benefit humanity. In the meantime, wear the mask #BeKind.”
Darkness and light
On a day full of dark and mild circumstances, it stood alone: the Johns Hopkins database of Govt cases and deaths, the primary source for many news organizations, surpassed 300,000 U.S. deaths, while HHS Secretary Alex Azhar was interviewed about the vaccine release by CNN. “I hate to interrupt, but we have crossed a terrible milestone with more than 300,000 deaths. We have crossed that line and now it is 300,267,” Jack Topper said. That is the darkness of 2020 – the daily rise in the death toll – but it also makes the light more valuable.
“NBC Knightly News” presenter Lester Holt brought this to the fore in a Monday night broadcast. “Vaccines point to a bright future, but it’s dark here and now as that 300,000 Govt death threshold is crossed. If I start reading aloud, we’ll start reading aloud the names of all those who lost.
“We see the light”
Sandra Lindsay, chief care nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, who was vaccinated live on television Monday morning, spoke with Anderson Cooper on Monday night. He said he felt great only after receiving the vaccine. “I have no fear. I believe my profession is deeply rooted in science,” he said. “What I don’t believe in is getting Covit-19 because I don’t know how it can affect me and the people around me because I can change the virus.”
Lindsay’s overall POV about V-Day: “The light in the tunnel is bright tonight. We see light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s definitely not over.”
For documentation
– I found myself agreeing with CNN’s Omar Jimenez, who tweeted when Lindsay was vaccinated, “I never thought vaccination on Live TV was so exciting, but we’re here. What a moment.” (
Twitter)
– A new ABC News / Ipsos poll puts it, “More than 10 in 10 Americans say they get the vaccine, 40% say they take it as soon as they get it, and 44% say they wait a while.” (ABC)
– Chris Cuomo on the “good luck” of the incredibly fast vaccine advances: “They’re going to write books, they’s going to make movies about it …” (
CNN)
– Sam Vinograd says “US should be wary of Russian misinformation surrounding vaccine rolls”, the country’s “long history of misinformation about health …” (CNN)
– “Covid killed 17,000 Americans last week. I’m afraid we’ll reduce the numbers,” commented Dr. Tom Frieden. (
Twitter)
– How to respect the lost 300,000+ lives? One way is through mourning. “The families of some of the victims have clearly written about the virus,” writes Julie Bosman. “They say the last days are painful. They beg to wear masks …” (NYT)
Three screen day
Enough with split-screen notes – sometimes that’s not enough! Monday was like a three-screen day, returning to the early months of the Trump administration in 2017, when many political fires were spreading at once. Here’s how the Washington Post handles all the news on the front page on Tuesday: Election college voting so high, then a big headline about the vaccine attempt, with the headline above about Bill Barr leaving.
Time to “turn the page”
CNN flew from the state capital to the capital on Monday, showing voters voting, with security led by the same group that handled Election Week. “We notice that democracy is stronger than this onslaught of lies,” Topper said. That, too, was Biden’s message, broadcast live on all major networks at 7:30 p.m. He declared that it was time to “turn the page, unite, and heal.” With this in mind, I would like to point out that Fox Business and One America News did not take his comments directly. Newsmax showed part of Pitton’s text, but cut off many more
Biden denial. At 7 p.m., host Greg Kelly said he “didn’t feel” like Biden was elected president. However, several hosts at Newsmax acknowledged the revelations and highlighted the attack on Pitan …
Fox wins Pitton’s victory under the carpet
Oliver Darcy writes: “For several weeks, the media did not announce the winner of the election to the Fox News audience, but the College of Elections did. Unlike NBC, Fox often avoided covering the story in the mornings and afternoons, and when it came to late afternoon, parts were largely built around Trump’s silly voter fraud claims. Fox took Biden’s speech live at 7:30 p.m. Confirmed to have … “
