Failed American Coronavirus Response

By: Sachi Ramachandran

While the Coronavirus pandemic is not a new issue to write about, its importance has not ceased. As of June 8, there are 1.9 million cases in the USA alone, and 110,925 of those cases ended in death. The first COVID-19 cases were reported in Wuhan Province, China on December 31, 2020. The World Health Organization issued a global health emergency close to a month later. The first cases outside of China showed up in Japan. The Japanese government put its citizens in a mandatory lockdown to prevent a large outbreak. Italy soon became a global hotspot for the virus on February 23 and was the first major surge of COVID-19. Iran soon followed as a second hotspot, and the Italian outbreak grew across Europe.

The first death in the US occurred on Feb. 29. Two days earlier, President Donald Trump stated in a news conference, “It’s going to disappear.” On March 4, there were 153 reported cases and 11 deaths. Trump’s response was, “Some people will have this at a very light level and won’t even go to a doctor or hospital, and they’ll get better. There are many people like that.” While this statement cannot be proven totally untrue given the information we currently have on the virus’ biology, it is mostly just a misleading statement that undermines the effect this virus could/would have on the American population. In an ironic and stark contrast, Governor Gavin Newsom of California issued a state of emergency on Mar. 4., along with a number of other governors with President Trump stated on March 9, “The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power ... to inflame the CoronaVirus situation.” via his Twitter.

Five days later he states,” We’re using the full power of the federal government to defeat the virus, and that’s what we’ve been doing.” On March 13, 2020, President Trump issued a national emergency. He issued this emergency a full month after the first surge of cases showed up in Europe. In each public address of the growing pandemic, Mr. President often contradicts himself and undermines the severity of the virus. He goes from saying that the virus will disappear (Feb. 29), stating that they have been addressing the virus very seriously (Mar. 14). This change has resulted in misinformation going to the American people.

Not only has President Trump enacted zero meaningful measures to battle the pandemic thus far, but he also called COVID-19 a “Chinese virus”. He blamed the virus’s outbreak and spread on the Democratic Party, the American press, and the Chinese people. This name he coined for a potentially deadly virus created tension in the Chinese-American community. This hateful term turned blame onto a minority in the American population. If this virus emerged from a different country, would President Trump have addressed it the same way? If the virus emerged from France or any other European country, would he have called it the French virus? One could only wonder at his true intentions behind the unprofessional and demeaning representation of the origin of the coronavirus.

An example of a successful handling of the pandemic can be seen in New Zealand. New Zealand has a current population of 4.8 million and is led by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Prime Minister Arden issued a strategy she coined as “go hard, go early”. She issued a closure of New Zealand’s borders on March 19. On March 23, 2020, she issued a level three lockdown nationwide. A level three lockdown closes non-essential businesses, limits all air-travel, and all events/gatherings are shut down. Two days after this, she issued a level four lockdown which meant that you could only have contact with people you lived with. They stayed on a level four lockdown until April 27, with only 20 deaths caused by the virus. The government took quick and decisive action after seeing the effects of the virus in Europe. They had the most testing per capita, sent out text messages to each citizen detailing the level four lockdown, and sent a concise tax reform to stimulate the economy. While New Zealand has a much smaller population compared to the US, a “go hard, go early” approach to the pandemic might’ve drastically reduced deaths and cases in this country. At the very least, a more critical decision might’ve provided some ease to many people since President Trump’s contradictions and constant conspiracy theories only provided confusion for the people he is supposed to represent.

If President Trump had addressed the virus before it became a widespread pandemic, issued a national stay-at-home order, and worked to provide more readily available tests across the nation, we might’ve been in a different situation. Trump can be quoted stating that the virus will “disappear by April”, but it is now June 9 and not only have racial tensions grown increasingly against Asian-Americans, but also 17,598 new cases have also been reported since yesterday, June 8th. This virus should not be underestimated and portrayed to be less deadly than it is, especially by the supposed leader of a country. An argument that many use to defend the president’s actions is “We didn’t know anything about the virus! How could the president have known?” The president of a country with a population of 330 million should listen to the certified healthcare professionals in his cabinet, and learn from other countries' mistakes and triumphs. Additionally, the President of the United States has classified information, and projections from health experts like Dr. Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to inform him of pandemic risks. Common sense would inform us that if he read the news and listened to professionals about what was happening in Italy and Europe, he would’ve put his pride and political beliefs aside and listened to what the medical professionals were telling him in order to save countless American lives.

Edited By: Khushi Patel and Austen Wyche

Posted June 12, 2020

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