U.S. national flags representing the 200,000 lives lost to COVID-19 in the United States are placed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 22, 2020. /Xinhua
Editor’s note: The following article is taken from the Chinese-language “The Real Point.” The article reflects the author’s opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.
In response to Bloomberg’s ridiculous “COVID Resilience Ranking” that has recently put the U.S. on the top of the list, three renowned Chinese think tanks jointly released a report on August 9 titled “‘America ranked first’?! The truth about America’s fight against COVID-19,” revealing the facts on the ground with thorough research, solid data and objective analysis. The report fully exposes the lie of the U.S. being the “world No.1 in containing the pandemic,” and also shows to the world how innocent Americans have become the victims to the partisan “game of thrones” in their own country.
Currently, the U.S. has recorded more than 35 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and over 610,000 deaths, both the highest worldwide. “It’s a slaughter,” William Foege, American epidemiologist and former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, put it bluntly. Indeed, for Americans, the pandemic is more of a man-made disaster than an act of God. Many people “who need not have died” lost their lives because of deeply entrenched partisan politics.
The memory is still fresh that at the early stage of the outbreak, the then American adminstration repeatedly ignored warnings and played down risks related to the pandemic. They deceived the public with misinformation like “the novel coronavirus is no different to the flu,” hoping to avoid economic shutdown and loss of jobs, consolidate the Republican base and secure a re-election.
When the virus was spreading fast in Democrat-dominated states such as New York and California, the Democratic Party spent most of its time and energy in political bickering rather than containing the outbreak. Almost every anti-pandemic move in the U.S., from tests, mask wearing and social distancing to vaccination and the coronavirus relief package, is plagued by partisan divisions.
America’s anti-pandemic policies have been disrupted and reactions slowed down by its internal political strife. Even six months after the outbreak, the federal government had yet to put in place a unified national strategy. Windows of opportunity to contain the virus were missed and lives lost amid the political tug of war.
A view of Times Square, New York, U.S., July 20, 2021. /Xinhua
A coronavirus model made by Columbia University epidemiologists suggests that around 54,000 coronavirus-linked deaths in the U.S. could have been avoided by May 3, 2020 if the control measures announced on March 13, 2020 had been in place two weeks earlier. But reality is reality, and no ifs could undo what’s been done. In the U.S., pandemic control is kidnapped by political self-interest, and innocent Americans are footing the bill.
At the heart of the successive failures in containing the pandemic is a dysfunctional American-style democracy. The so-called separation of powers, also known as the system of checks and balances, has been reduced to the “game of thrones” among politicians. While the White House and the Congress are constantly wrestling with each other, within the Congress, the two Houses hardly ever see eye to eye, and the judicial system’s “independence” is devoured by bitter partisan fights.
Moreover, with local governments rebelling against state governments and state governments defying the federal government, America’s system of governance has long been cracked up and fragmented. How could a system like this effectively coordinate and pool resources to fight the virus?
Doyle McManus, a reporter with the Los Angeles Times, lashed out his criticism in an op-ed. “Instead of a single national strategy to quell the pandemic and revive the economy, 50 states are pursuing individual efforts. We’re living in the Disunited States of America,” he wrote, “Our federal union is eroding before our eyes.”
Today, a dire humanitarian disaster is still creeping across the U.S. By August 9 (local time), over 100,000 daily cases had been recorded nationwide for three days in a row, up by 35 percent compared to the week before. However, political parties are still fighting for fighting’s sake without showing the slightest intention of stopping. Judicial silence, legislative standstills and executive incompetence have turned the separation of powers into “division of powers.” In a predicament like this, the “unity” that the current president called for in his inauguration speech could be nothing but a slogan.
At present, American politicians are still pulling political stunts that ignore citizens’ basic human rights. The country doesn’t, by any stretch of imagination, deserve to be seen as the “world No. 1 in containing the pandemic.” It is, quite the contrary, the “world No. 1 anti-pandemic failure” and the “world No. 1 politically divided country.”
