The spread of Covid-19 in the United States has plunged the Trump administration into a political crisis. For weeks, the President and his advisors had downplayed and downplayed the possible effects of the pathogen on the economy and society. At the end of February, Trump tweeted that the corona virus was “absolutely under control”.
The virus is now spreading to over 30 states, and experts are already warning of quarantines, overwhelmed hospitals and a decline in American economic growth. Above all, the Trump administration has failed to quickly and comprehensively test potential virus patients. Both South Korea and the United States had their first illness on January 20. Since then, over 125,000 people have been tested in South Korea, but fewer than 2,500 in the United States.
“Why do you know so much about it?”
“We are in a serious crisis because we haven’t tested enough people,” said Democratic Congresswoman Jackie Speier on Sunday. “You don’t trust the president because he doesn’t tell the truth,” says Speier.
The American situation is made more difficult by structural problems: around 29 million people have no health insurance, and almost 90 million are underinsured. Paid sick leave is rare, which is why workers often go to work when they feel sick. If public schools were closed due to the spread of the corona virus, many children from poor households would have to forego their single meals.
Instead of using the time since the outbreak of the epidemic in China, the wrangling of competencies and trivialization characterized the reactions of the Trump administration. Employees had to repeatedly correct statements by the president, even Vice President Mike Pence contradicted Trump. The administration’s missteps would have “jeopardized my members and the traveling public,” warned Sara Nelson, chairwoman of the American flight attendants’ union, AFA.
“Maybe I have natural skills.”US President Donald Trump
The President’s irritation on Friday also irritated the President’s visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the lead agency in the fight against the pathogen. “People are really surprised that I understand this stuff so well,” Trump said. The doctors would have asked him, “why do you know so much about it?” Trump’s answer: “Maybe I have natural skills”.
During the laboratory visit to Atlanta, the president described the CDC-developed virus test as “perfect” as his call last July to Ukrainian President Wolodimir Selenski, which had led to Trump’s impeachment. After Trump claimed that “anyone who needed it” could be tested on Covid-19, Vice President Pence made it clear a little later that there were still insufficient test kits for it.
Trump, on the other hand, accused the “fake news” on Sunday of wanting to make the government “look bad,” even though it had a “perfectly coordinated and fine-tuned plan” to combat the virus.
Created: 09.03.2020, 07:10 AM
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