March 9, 2020
Like characters in a Steve Soderbergh movie, we are all trapped in a miasma of dread. There are coronavirus cases in 30 states, Governor Andrew Cuomo has declared a state of emergency in light of the 143 people who have tested positive in New York, (Source: “How Many in Tri-State Have Tested Positive For Coronavirus? See Latest Cases By The Numbers.” nbcnewyork.com, 3/9/20). The stock market has been plummeting, with trading halted today after stocks dipped 7%, the largest one day drop ever.
Trump set the stage for this two years ago by firing everyone in the National Security apparatus charged with responsibility for managing global pandemics, (Source: “Trump cuts to national security staff may hurt coronavirus response, former officials say,” by Laura Strickler and Ken Dilanian, NBCnews.com, 2/26/20). The Trump administration’s response has been depressingly on brand. The combination of mendacity, incompetence, ignorance and callousness has turned what could have been a manageable situation into a full-blown crisis.
At the outset the CDC lost valuable time through its insistence on developing its own test, rather than using the one recommended by the World Health Organization. The CDC recommended test was deeply flawed and unreliable, setting back our efforts to rapidly diagnose and treat those affected, (Source: “Key Missteps at the CDC Have Set Back Its Ability to Detect the Potential Spread of Coronavirus,” by Caroline Chen, Marshall Allen, Lexi Churchill and Isaac Arnsdorf, Propublica.org, 2/28/20).
This initial bad decision had a domino effect and led to a widespread inability to get an accurate count of how many people actually have the coronavirus because of the inadequate number of test kits. Since Trump is only concerned about the impact that this crisis is having on the markets and his personal political fortunes, he responded the way he has to every crisis, by blaming the Democrats and the news media and lying. In order to placate him, the CDC has chosen obfuscation, rather than the transparency that is vitally important to managing an emerging pandemic, (Source: “Exclusive: The Strongest Evidence Yet That America Is Botching Coronavirus Testing,” by Robinson Meyer and Alexis Madrigal, TheAtlantic.com, 3/6/20).
Trump is the antithesis of the calm, competent and steady leader the country needs right now. Coronavirus, a stealthy pathogen infecting everyone from Uber drivers to CPAC attendees, cannot be intimidated by Trump tweets and will expose his lies more quickly than any Congressional hearing.
Trump’s is not the only one whose true colors are being revealed though. Those of us who stockpile Purell, even though we’re told it makes it less likely that immuno-compromised people who really need it will be able to get it; those who hoard surgical masks although we’re told that they’re ineffective, even if it means that medical personnel on the front lines of treating those with coronavirus won’t have enough masks are putting assuaging our own anxiety over the public good. We are trying to rationalize our selfishness as prudence, but we’re only fooling ourselves. Those merchants price gouging on essentials like black market war profiteers and the governor choosing to combat that profiteering by enlisting prison labor to make state branded hand sanitizer for slave wages are showing their greed and inhumanity for all to see.
Crises reveal character and the emerging picture isn’t pretty. I’m afraid that coronavirus may not be the only contagion loose in our country, and there won’t be a vaccine for this one.
#Washyourhands