"Few Places Seem As Ill-Suited For Dealing With A Pandemic As The US Under This Administration"

[hatrack]

Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control warned that the United States should brace itself for a widespread outbreak of the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19. “It’s not so much of a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more of a question of exactly when this will happen,” National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Director Dr. Nancy Messonnier told reporters yesterday. “We are asking the American public to prepare for the expectation that this might be bad.” Wall Street was responsive, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average had tumbled nearly 900 points by the end of the day.

Exploiting crisis is a common move in politics, especially on the right. And in reactions to the current coronavirus outbreak worldwide, there’s already a pattern emerging. French National Rally party head Marine Le Pen and the League Party’s Matteo Salvini, of Italy—right-wing opposition leaders polling well against their countries’ centrist governments—have begun using the coronavirus’s spread as a platform to advocate long-held closed-border policies they hope will endear them to panicked voters. In Italy, where there are now well over 200 confirmed cases, Salvini called to “make our borders armor-plated” and criticized the government for allowing an NGO rescue ship with 276 African migrants aboard to dock; of the two confirmed cases in Africa, one came from an Italian who flew to Algeria. There are now two confirmed cases in France, where Le Pen urges suspending Europe’s Schengen Zone, which allows free passage within the customs union.

EDIT

There are, in fact, well-known and effective steps an interested government could take to defend against the coronavirus. Yet few places seem as ill-suited for dealing with a pandemic as the U.S. under the current administration. Our patchy, expensive, and inefficient health care system is already charging people thousands of dollars to get tested for the coronavirus, discouraging the kind of early diagnosis necessary for containment. The expense could prevent millions from seeking treatment, spurring the spread and death count alike. Meanwhile, 40-plus years of right-wing attacks on the public sphere have drained capacity and talent from the government, making it harder to take on big problems at scale. And a bipartisan panic about budget deficits has made large-scale spending on anything but wars virtually unthinkable.

Trump’s governing approach—characterized by a chaotic mix of small-government fetishism, big-government xenophobia, distrust of scientific authority, fondness for authoritarians, aversion to international coordination, and bumbling administrative incompetence, all topped off by a penchant for spreading disinformation—makes an effective response harder still. “Deployment of a containment operation,” the World Health Organization advises, in contrast, “will require extraordinary international advance planning on the part of WHO and countries worldwide.” Literally and figuratively, Pandemic is a cooperative game.

EDIT

https://newrepublic.com/article/156673/trump-coronavirus-lifeboat-ethics

[Boomer]

2. Mike Pence inspires such confidence

With his blank stares and zombie-posture.

[al bupp]

4. "Literally and figuratively, Pandemic is a cooperative game." True

Pandemic
by Z-Man Games:

https://www.amazon.com/Z-Man-Games-ZM7101-Pandemic/dp/B00A2HD40E

We have had this cooperative game in the house for years, and not once have we beaten the pandemic.