America’s COVID Crisis
Vanja Bodja, Print Staff Writer
September 7 2020
Throughout the past decade and amid the 21st century, there have been numerous viral outbreaks that have caused fear throughout the world. From SARS to Ebola, none have been as devastating economically as COVID-19. As the world remains in a global lockdown, COVID-19 has not only exemplified the rapid effects of globalization, but either exposed the ability and lack thereof for governments to handle such a panic. Even before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11th, multiple WHO reports displayed proper warnings about the novel coronavirus that allowed nations enough time to prepare for the worst. The ignorance of these warning signs and lack of efforts to prepare for massive outbreaks caused the United States of America to lead globally in most confirmed cases ever at over 6 million cases. These statistics show that there is a greater underlying weakness in America’s political system that restrains the U.S. from being able to protect and maintain themselves against Covid-19. The failure to moderate Covid-19, which led to its massive outburst in the United States, can be credited to the American government’s political response to the virus.
In times of disaster, a key component of fighting any issue internationally is through unity. However, although working together is the ideal goal, it is difficult to achieve when government officials focus on blame and cause rather than solution and improvement. On May 18th, Donald Trump tweeted to his eighty-two million followers the letter his administration sent to the World Health Organization, essentially threatening to suspend American funding. President Trump’s letter claims “The World Health Organization consistently ignored credible reports of the virus spreading in Wuhan in early December”, did not share credible information found by medical professionals in China, did not properly condemn and pressure China to take more severe actions, advised the United States against closing their borders to China, gave inaccurate claims about the virus in order to “buy the world more time”, and finally, it claims the global pandemic could have been easily preventable had WHO conducted their actions more carefully. While the American right praised the idea of defunding WHO, critics argued that withholding the funds as a political motive would only cause more damage in the fight against the virus. Although WHO never directly replied to Trump’s extreme accusations, they have posted a timeline pinpointing the dates of when certain information was released and when events took place in order to discuss further measures of controlling the disease. Additionally, misinformation is common when studying a novel disease as the lack of time and experience with the virus causes information to constantly change.
While President Trump cast blames on the WHO and China, he has also discredited the severity of the disease, which only further influenced American citizens. Throughout numerous press conferences and interviews, Donald Trump has repeatedly said that ‘the virus is completely under control’, that the heat of the summer will slow the virus, that “the risk to the American people is very low”, and many other statements along the same lines. Meanwhile, over 190,000 people have passed away in the US due to COVID-19.
Downplaying the severity of the pandemic in order to maintain political favouritism causes citizens to relieve themselves from responsibilities pertaining to the virus. In 2009, when H1N1 hit the world, President Barack Obama publicly stated that “this is a cause for deep concern, but not panic. And I think that we have to make sure that we recognize that how we respond -- intelligently, systematically, based on science and what public health officials have to say -- will determine in large part what happens.” While President Trump attempts to convince the citizens that he has it handled properly, although statistics show otherwise, Barack Obama emphasized the severity of the situation and re-affirmed the science community during his presidency. As a result, the U.S. was able to act accordingly to the H1N1 crisis in a unified manner, rather than reassuring citizens under false pretences. Therefore, the crisis could be handled properly rather than politicizing the situation at hand.
As the Trump administration continuously fails to properly address the Covid-19 situation at hand, the United States is failing on a global standard as well. In Canada, there is much more national unity as each province allocates a certain funding based on the severity of its cases. Quebec and Ontario were both allocated above $200 million in federal funding based on the population and epicenters of the outbreak. Certain provinces like Ontario emplaced mandatory social distancing laws which limit group gatherings to five people in phase 1 in order to slow the spread. Although the U.S. adapted social distancing laws as well, protests of up to thousands of members have also shared their concern for individual liberties and reopening the economy. While protests have occurred in Canada as well, government officials, such as Canada’s Premier, have responded strongly against these protests, even calling them “irresponsible and reckless”. Meanwhile across the border, President Trump claimed to oppose the protests but justified that “it's not going to matter because we're starting to open up our states”. As the U.S. begins to reopen their economy, including allowing places like dine in restaurants, personal care facilities such as hairdressers, entertainment facilities, and houses of worship to reopen, more measures should be put in place in order to prevent life from getting back to normal. China, who has managed to decrease and limit cases, has put in place mandatory QR codes that identify the health of the individual through smartphone apps in order to enter public facilities. The United States should reopen the economy with precautions and look towards countries who have successfully contained Covid-19 in order to learn new solutions that can be put in place. The fear of individual right violations manifesting and causing backlash towards Covid restrictions is restraining political officials from passing stricter laws and longer lockdowns due to wanting to maintain political popularity amongst voters. Although Trump has said partisanship should be ignored in times of need, it is so deep rooted in American politics that it is difficult to avoid.
As Trump continues to blame world organizations for America’s losses and downplaying the severity of the outbreak in the U.S., the virus won’t be dealt with as properly as it should. In times where thousands are dying and the economy is at its lowest, America should look towards other countries and their strategies in order to further save more lives.