Since the start of the Covid 19 pandemic, it’s been all about the testing. Not only how many but who was tested is the difference, both in terms of the number of infected and the dead. In S. Korea, which responded at light speed, not only ramping up the number of tests, but with the smart targeting of clusters – the co-workers, friends and family of the infected, and enforcing isolation and quarantine. The result being that with only a minimal lockdown, they've experienced a daily death number in the single digits, and a negligible rate of infection (an even better rate than ordinary flu). In the U.S. and most of the hardest hit European nations, blaming the Chinese, and travel restrictions were the priorities, and only much later did testing ramp up, and even then cluster targeting was never the national policy – testing only the symptomatic was the rule. Social-distancing and economic lockdowns in Europe did have impact on infection-spread, but it was too little, too late. Because of its late and feeble response, The U.S. became the world’s Covid 19 epicenter, with a huge number of infected and an ever rising death toll, and all this even before the projected “second wave” strikes.
The CDC deserves a big chunk of the blame, but the buck has to stop with the president, who’s surrounded himself, with a cabinet and advisors, where personal loyalty, over experience and knowledge, is the priority credential in appointments. There’s a cost to prizing sycophancy over intelligence, and the country is paying it.
The CDC deserves a big chunk of the blame, but the buck has to stop with the president, who’s surrounded himself, with a cabinet and advisors, where personal loyalty, over experience and knowledge, is the priority credential in appointments. There’s a cost to prizing sycophancy over intelligence, and the country is paying it.
