“Fair is foul and foul is fair”, humanity has known for long the power of appearances, yet still we may fall victim to their deceitful acts. It’s about time we look away from the pretty flowers and pay attention to their scrambled roots, lest America pull another Trump card on us with this virus.
Scientists have predicted for several years the increasing possibility of an onset of “superbugs” and highly resilient viruses as a result of antibiotic resistance and the overuse of drugs, and have thus continuously warned countries to be prepared for an epidemic. After the global panic caused by Ebola in 2016, many countries established agencies to take care of biological threats to humanity and such a committee (National Security Council) was also established in the USA. However, declaring that they don’t believe in the relevance and importance of this type of a council, the Trump administration has drastically reduced the funding available to such entities, including the CDC- which can only help 39 of the 49 countries it catered to as a result. The result of this misguided decision from a real-estate magnate in place of an expert has led the USA to its current situation: Unprepared and in desperate need of help.
Lack of preparation aside, a major factor that also played an important role in this situation is the response time taken to realise and start combating COVID-19. Trump spent the crucial first few weeks after the virus entered the USA dodging responsibility for the lack of preparation; In fact, circulated false information about the steps taken to control the spread of the virus. For example, he claimed that booths meant to diagnose incoming U.S citizens had been set up in certain airports, when in fact no such measures were taken anywhere close to the timeframe Trump mentioned. The lack of implementing a lockdown even after the number of cases were soaring also showcased the poor leadership of the president.
Now, the US is facing a lack of resources so high from no availability of masks for the citizens to toilet paper, not to mention the massive number of casualties that have led to the implementation of mass graves, and all because of the simple pompousness of a single man in accepting his failure. As of the 14th of April, there have been 586,941 total cases and a total of 23,640 casualties, the most recorded in a country so far and more than 25% of the total cases even found in China, the country of origin of COVID-19.
In conclusion, while Trump supporters can defend his presidency time and time again, the statistics side with the more educated side of the population pool.