“COVID-19”, the latest trendsetter, has hit USA so hard, I think I speak for everyone out there when I say that we were actually quite surprised and taken aback.
Who would’ve thought that America would ever become so vulnerable?
Who would’ve ever thought that the state with the strongest grip on the world economy, would rank as the country with the largest number of Corona Virus cases- a staggering 1,686,436 cases and 99,300 deaths to date, to be precise! Well at least, they ranked first in it too (nervous laugh).
So, where did they go wrong?
Taking into account all the news updates and articles I have read and kept up with, I believe there were some factors that contributed directly to their current situation.
First and foremost, it must be highlighted that the US underestimated the COVID threat and it in turn resulted in such devastation. Had they entered the lockdown a week earlier in March, so many lives could have been saved; 36,000 to be exact, according to the BBC.
Quoting President Trump’s Trade Advisor, Peter Navarro at the NBC Meet the Press program; “Early on in this crisis, the CDC which had the most trusted brand around the world, really let the country down with the testing, they had a bad test and that set us back”. According to him, the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) had sent out faulty test kits initially, and later struggled to re-establish their testing. Meanwhile, the virus spread around like wildfire.
HHS Secretary, Alex Azar, however disagreed with Navarro’s remarks and shifted the blame to the WHO. “There was a failure by this organization to obtain the information that the world needed and that failure cost many lives” as mentioned by Azar at the WHO’s annual assembly which was held online.
These statements have made it quite clear that the authorities are accusing one another while ignoring the root causes for the high death toll.
If so, what should be fixed first?
The mindset of the American citizens has been one big issue because there was much backlash by them, on the central government for imposing stay-at-home measures. Even some Republican governors showed a stubborn resistance towards the lockdown. Therefore, the clashing of interests caused by extreme political polarization has been one major reason as to why USA has still not succeeded in beating the novel virus.
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, USA is one of the most unequal nations in the world. Therefore, the public health experts of the country state that the socioeconomic status of the citizens plays a significant role in whether a person will survive the disease or not.
One might wonder how, the profession, social status and income determine a person’s capability to survive this virus.
The answer is simple.
It is because those with a low income, lack health insurance. USA does not provide free health care and therefore those who cannot afford to have health insurance, do not have access to quality health care.
All in all, if inequality is addressed, the division in the social status is bridged and many such reforms are made, I believe the US will be able to rise again through the ashes.
So, maybe it’s time they learnt from us…
Being a third world country, we should be extremely proud of how well we have been able to tackle this nightmare of a disease. When all the mighty world-powers are going down in flames, we were successful in facing the threat head-on! The availability of free health care in Sri Lanka was one major reason why we succeeded in tackling the virus very efficiently.
Wrapping up my rant, I think it’s high time USA learnt something from the lions!
-Written by Rtr. Shenali Ranasinghe-
Image credits:
https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3073972/coronavirus-vs-trump-us-presidents-authoritarian-bluster-has-hit
https://www.von.gov.ng/covid-19-u-s-death-toll-hits-80000/
References:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52757150
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/11/politics/america-cant-beat-coronavirus/index.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/coronavirus-death-toll-exceeds-90000-trump-urges-reopening-200518144757795.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/trump-tweets-support-anti-lockdown-protests-200417191437581.html
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