“President Donald Trump is hoping for a ‘miracle’ that will make the coronavirus disappear,” CNN reports.
“It’s going to disappear … like a miracle, it will disappear,” our nation’s leader said today, as it spreads through Asia and Europe and U.S. health experts warn Americans to brace for “severe disruption.”
CNN panned Trump’s comments as “divorced from the gravity of the situation” and said they “raise new questions” about his ability to manage a crisis. (RR: After Hurricane Maria, does anyone except his diehard supporters still think he has any ability to manage a crisis?)
The network said those around him “have tried to impress upon him the seriousness of the coronavirus situation,” but “his erratic news conference only fanned the impression of a leadership vacuum.”
As of this moment the US government has done a decent job of keeping the virus out, and contained to a few individuals. It maybe prepared to close off the Mexican and Canadian borders for an indefinite time. Without an effective vaccine there is nt much any government can do except hope spring arrives to slow the pathogen. Ebola is a far more deadly disease and it was by government speaking with one voice, the low infectious of Ebola, and luck stopped a panic.
As it is China is using draconian methods western nations will find difficult to emulate and it is difficult to ascertain the effectiveness of the Chinese efforts, but certainly the Chinese economy has taken a hit.
There is at this time no norovirus crises in the US. There is merely the potential for one. There is potential for an ebola outbreak and people are not concerned over that. What we have is panic over what is equivalent to a bad flu variant that happens every 10 years or so, but not a flu variety like the 1919 Spanish flu.
Yes the stock market is reacting. While it does not like uncertainty,it has been due for some time for a correction, the fundamentals have not changed fr0m two weeks ago.
Iran leaders are not handling this health crises well either, and seem to have laid down bets Allah will make it all better.
Since we have not had a pandemic or this type of crises in so long our expectations maybe completely out of whack here. The bottom line is the Federal government cannot do all that much. Sure it has class A research facilities, and there is always a possibility that a cure, treatment regimen, or vaccine is sitting in some cold war bio vault, and the government is embarrassed or unwilling to acknowledge having done the research, and it is all top secret. the federal government can keep something out of the US and keep something from spreading in an initial outbreak and other than handing out supplies it is the states and our local health folks who will bear the brunt, and must do the hard work. The medical community will carry on until the new disease guts them, and they will grab anyone standing to help if conditions are that bad. In a true pandemic we are back in the time where doctors are not gods and can only treat the conditions and make the patient comfortable and leave it in natures or the patients will to live. e have not had to look in this face of the human condition in some time.
The Trump administration has not kept the virus out and it is not contained.
Protecting the U.S. population from global pandemics is a federal responsibility. The states can’t do it — too piecemeal, and they lack the resources. Previous administrations have been better prepared, for example, the Obama administration’s handling of the Ebola outbreak. Trump has denigrated science, cut funding for the CDC and NIH, and is calling the COVID-19 pandemic a “Democratic hoax.” That’s not what our country needs right now. This health crisis calls for leadership, organization, funding, and coordination with state and local health authorities, and also private companies that develop vaccines, produce medicines, and manufacture medical supplies.