Judge Jeanine Pirro has had about enough of that and pushed back on the Democrats and the legacy media in her opening monologue last Friday. She also provided some useful advice on what each of us could do personally to minimize the possibility of contracting the virus. Here are some of her remarks:

Pirro: If you ever had a question whether the mainstream media distorts, whips up, throws things out of focus, or has an agenda – especially when it comes to the Trump Administration – look no further than coronavirus. If you listen to the mainstream media, it’s time to buy the family burial plot, visit the cemetery where the dirt is definitely cleaner than your kitchen counter or your bathroom handles.

(Cut to a CNN video clip in which Fareed Zakaria said, “The coronavirus has the potential to become a global pandemic.” Then a clip from The View on ABC in which Joy Behar, in response to the President’s actions on coronavirus, “What can you expect from him? The President is a reality show story.” And finally, from MSNBC’s “The Last Word” with Lawrence O’Donnell, “The response to the coronavirus in the United States is being led by the most incompetent and ignorant president in history.”)

So what’s the downside of their doomsday reporting? The downside is predictable. When people are scared, when people think it’s just a question of time before they start dropping like flies, they go into survival mode. They don’t spend money. The economy suffers. They don’t invest. The market suffers. They talk about taking their children out of school. Education suffers. They talk about canceling March Madness, Coachella and local businesses suffer. And canceling airlines and cruise ship reservations, the economy suffers. They go into depression mode because their quality of life is over. And who better to trumpet a slowing economy than CNN?

(Cut to a video clip of Don Lemon: “Wall Street is rattled by the worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus. The Dow closing down over 300 points today for a total loss of over 3000 in the past week!”)

My, my; you want to focus on the Dow now? Where were you when the Dow, the S&P 500, and NASDAQ all repeatedly reached record highs under President Trump? You weren’t interested then were you. Where were you when the Dow closed at a record high more than 100 times since Donald Trump’s election? Where were you when animal spirits were driving this country to new economic heights?

“For your information, our economy can sustain a 3,000-point drop because we are at record highs. Job numbers just came up, and they are up beyond expectations … long-term interest rates are plunging, so people can refinance, and those who need subsidies are going to get them.

And the media complains that there was a lackluster initial response by the Trump Administration. Say what? Let’s start with the fact that US has one of the best healthcare systems in the world. And on January 31^st, the Trump Administration restricted entry into this country from China in an effort to counter the spreading coronavirus outbreak. Even the NY Times noted that the administration barred entry by most foreign nationals who had recently visited China. American travelers were under quarantine, as the administration declared a rare health emergency.

The President did this knowing it would send shocks through the stock market. That it would rattle industry in the world’s two largest economies. He immediately put together the smartest, most sophisticated team of doctors, scientists, and healthcare professionals to deal with his declared coronavirus health emergency. And most important, he assigned to Vice President Mike Pence the job of organizing, monitoring a team to contain, litigate, and treat the problem, working with states and local governments. His efforts have been non-stop, keenly focused and hailed.

The political criticisms by the Left, like Gov. Inslee (D-WA) and Gov. Cuomo (D-NY), are nothing more than political gamesmanship that have no place in this effort. The effort to develop a vaccine … making testing kits available to every state lab and available to every doctor in this country … with a minimum of $4 million going to each of the 50 states is underway.

So, what to do? It’s a virus like the flu. It actually can be mistaken for the flu. A sore throat, a cough, a fever … and by the way, it is flu season. You say, “but people are dying.” Sadly, that’s true, and not only are condolences in order, but we owe it to their families and all Americans to come up with a vaccine. Like the flu, tests for coronavirus are now being made available to every state lab. Clinical trials will begin within five weeks for the vaccine. The federal government is working continuously, vigorously, and forcefully to cut the bureaucratic red tape that often slows down vaccine approval. And rest assured, the best, the brightest, and the resolute are working nonstop to create this vaccine.

Now they say the mortality rate for coronavirus is higher than for the flu, but consider though that we have a flu vaccine, and yet in 2019, 60,000 Americans died from the flu. Imagine if we did not have the flu vaccine. The flu would be a pandemic. So all the talk about coronavirus being so much more deadly doesn’t reality. Without a vaccine, the flue would be far more deadly.

Now, what we do know is the mortality rate is much higher among elderly adults. According to reports, the risk of dying if infected with the coronavirus is higher the older you are, which might explain why I say children are not really affected by the virus. But in addition to age, as Dr. Anthony Fauci has said, the risk is greater if you as an elder person have an underlying medical condition like diabetes, heart disease, asthma. It is certainly higher if you’re a smoker, which might explain why China has such a high mortality rate. Some studies have estimated that as many as 50% of Chinese men are smokers.

So what to do? Wash your hands. I know everyone thinks there’s got to be more to this. The reason you wash your hands is to get the germs off. The reason why you need to get the germs off is because you could then transfer them to your eyes, your nose, your mouth … risking infection to your respiratory system. … Whatever you have to do, don’t touch your face. And gloves won’t matter because the virus can last for hours on that and other surfaces. So whether you need to borrow your dog’s shock collar, or go out and buy a straightjacket, don’t touch your face. Don’t share drinking glasses, eating utensils. Clean all high-touch surfaces every day, like counters and tabletops and doorknobs, and stay home if you feel sick. As the Surgeon General said last week, you don’t need a mask unless you’re sick. And there’s no need to go out and clean out the store shelves.

As the weather warms, fewer and fewer people will get sick with the virus. Some of the meds need to be left to the people who may need them. And if you want to complain about something, complain about the fact that we rely on China and even India for ingredients for some of our medication. Even the meds themselves. It’s time to have a supply chain for our medicine in the United States. Time to make America first there.

Maybe Bill Maher has the right attitude: stop panicking, fear-mongering, hiding under your bed, and freaking out. In fact, snap out of it, and wash your damn hands, and wash ‘em again.

End of her monologue. That’s pretty sound advice and basic common sense. Wash. Your. Hands. And as far as the media are concerned, surely we’ve learned from watching them in action over the past four years that their attention is almost entirely focused on “getting the President,” as each new issue/crisis is twisted and bent to serve their enduring objective – to get rid of President Trump by any means possible. They have been crying “wolf” non-stop toward that end since before Inauguration Day in 2017.

Here is some reasoned discussion of Covid-19 from Monday that provides a good perspective on the Covid-19/Wuhan virus situation based on the latest information:

It’s possible that COVID-19 isn’t as fatal as most people think. And stockpiling hand sanitizer and masks could hurt people who are truly at risk: the elderly and those with weak immune systems.

“Kids and adults have done extremely well in terms of recovery so far,” said Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency medicine doctor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “It’s so critical that we do not waste resources among the young and healthy and that we really focus on the areas where this might really get out of control.”

While some studies peg the death rate to 3.4%, experts expect to see this rate decrease as the health care system starts finding milder cases.

“What I was able to find by looking at a few other data sources, rather than just the big flashy numbers, was that there’s actually a lot of reason to be reassured that the numbers are a lot lower,” said Faust.

Because only the sickest people are showing up at hospitals, this group is likely over-represented among the full population of people who have COVID-19, according to Faust. Most COVID-19 cases are mild, and many individuals will never even see a health care provider to be tested.

Right now, the best experts can say is that COVID-19 is probably more deadly that the seasonal flu, but much less deadly than other high-profile outbreaks like Ebola, SARS, and MERS, with death rates of 50%, 10%, and 35%, respectively.

“It might not be as fatal as people think.” Now, if only this dispassionate analysis could penetrate the numbskulls in the fear-mongering legacy media!

The end.