United States President Donald Trump poorly addressed the issue of COVID-19 currently facing America. Now the American citizens face the consequences from the poor leadership of the White House. Illustration by Audrey Kennedy
Managing Editor Naomi Hendershot reflects on the pandemic the United States is facing and how it should be a wake-up call to the U.S. government to recognize its poor leadership in defending the country against the COVID-19.
For centuries, nations around the world have been affected by surges of disease, such as the bubonic plague, the spanish flu, smallpox and polio. Of course, back then technology and medicine were not in a place to properly prevent the rapid spread of such diseases.
Now, with modern advancement in these fields, our nation should be able to prevent the spread of viruses prior to the point of a pandemic. But unfortunately, that is not what has happened in the United States when facing COVID-19.
“Now, with modern advancement in these fields, our nation should be able to prevent the spread of viruses prior to the point of a pandemic.”
Health experts such as the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continuously warned the public and U.S. government officials about the potential impacts of COVID-19 if it continues to spread.
“We have a window of opportunity now for the rest of the world. We see what’s happening in China in terms of the number of cases and fatalities, so if we don’t use the window of opportunity we have now, if we don’t operate with a sense of urgency, there could be a serious consequence,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference. “I will continue to remind until the world really takes this seriously, does it with a sense of urgency and believes from the heart that time is of the essence now.”
Yet, there was still a delayed reaction from the Trump administration to contain the virus. Along with the delayed reaction, President Donald Trump blatantly downplayed how serious this virus actually was.
Now, the US is facing the economic and social repercussions of the President and his administration’s poor leadership in containing the outbreak of COVID-19.
With the progressive nationwide shutdown, many local businesses closed their doors indefinitely. Other larger companies and businesses cut costs by laying off droves of employees. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 6.6 million people have filed for unemployment. During the Great Depression, the unemployment rate reached 24.9%. It is projected that the unemployment rate this year will peak at 30%, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard.
“During the Great Depression, the unemployment rate reached 24.9%. It is projected that the unemployment rate this year will peak at 30%.”
The Trump administration’s lack of action is now costing the livelihoods of working-class Americans. Without a steady income, many Americans are unable to pay for essential things like food, housing, clothing and other necessities.
Along with disruption to the economy, the U.S. government is not supplying hospitals around the country with enough personal protective equipment (PPE) to safely care for their patients without the risk of getting themselves infected. According to an article published by NPR, hospitals are limiting N95 masks to one per medical staff for every five days.
Even COVID-19 tests are in short supply. According to an article published by Quartz, many labs around the country are reporting shortages of chemicals and other materials necessary to perform diagnostics tests.
Of course, other countries around the world are threatened by COVID-19 — Italy, Spain and Germany to name a few. But America should’ve seen this coming.
Had the Trump administration followed the example of South Korea, for instance, America might’ve been in a better position to recover quickly. The South Korean government took the necessary precautions in order to minimize the spread of the diseases by testing more than 270,000 people for COVID-19 in early March. They even tested citizens who did not show symptoms. This way they were able to detect the source of spreading if an outbreak occurred.
“Had the Trump administration followed the example of South Korea, for instance, America might’ve been in a better position to recover quickly.”
It has become evident over these past two months that the U.S. government is extremely unprepared for what lies ahead. The Trump administration should’ve begun taking serious precautions when the nation began seeing its first cases in January, and even now, there is still slow action to fix their mistakes.
During these difficult times, however, the importance of community has shown through more than ever. Many communities across the nation are coming together in order to support one another, from volunteering at school food drives, making masks for medical workers, supporting local businesses and, most importantly, staying home.
Any hopes to slow this pandemic down now rests on the backs of essential workers and the American people.
