Coronavirus in the United States

 By Emma Brennan

After the coronavirus took China by storm, it was clear it was only a matter of time before it would spread to other countries across the globe and bring just as much devastation. With weeks and even months to anticipate the inevitable first case of the coronavirus in the United States, the government did little to prepare. The precaution, or the lack thereof, that the United States government took has been met by a lot of criticism.

The United States government tried to avoid the reality of the pandemic and did not confront the issue until it was too late. It was not until six weeks after the first case of coronavirus had been recorded in the United States that President Trump began implementing rules in an effort to reduce the spread of the virus (Lipton et al. 2020). Additionally, while President Trump was busy minimizing the severity of the situation and addressing other issues like the economy, other members of the government were quick to acknowledge that this situation required aggressive action. Instead of listening to these advisories, President Trump disregarded the attempts made by senior officials yet still insists that this pandemic is one that “came out of nowhere and could not have been foreseen” (Lipton et al. 2020).

In January the National Security Council office, which is tasked with tracking pandemics, received intelligence reports that were able to anticipate what the spread of the virus would look like in the United States; this council quickly began suggesting that large cities be closed and people stay home in an attempt to prevent this from happening (Lipton et al. 2020). Despite hearing these advisories in January, it was not until mid March that Trump decided to take these actions.

On January 30 Alex M. Azar II, the health and human services secretary, called President Trump for a second time in a matter of two weeks to warn Trump about the impending pandemic, a warning that resulted in Trump calling Azar an “alarmist” (Lipton et al. 2020). On the same day, Robert Redfield, the director of the CDC, had issued a statement saying that “the immediate risk to the American people is low” (Hauk et al. 2020). In mid-February, Trump was recommended to urge the American people to social distance and stay home from work; it took almost an entire month before Trump unwillingly obliged (Lipton et al. 2020).

Despite ignoring the warning signs for weeks, if not months, President Trump has been making excuses as to why he did not act sooner. Both Trump as well as his allies and administration have placed blame on the Chinese government, claiming that they did not report accurate information as a way to mislead other governments (Lipton et al. 2020). President Trump has also claimed that those around him were not emphasizing how urgent the situation was, despite receiving several warnings from Azar and the National Security Office, just to name a few (Lipton et al. 2020). Once Trump decided to take some sort of precaution, his first plan of action to limit the spread of the virus was to restrict travel to China in late January (Lipton et al. 2020).

On March 13, President Trump declared the pandemic to be a national emergency. In addition, he allocated almost $50 billion to make coronavirus testing quicker (Hauck et al. 2020). Three days later, Trump declared the beginning of what was supposed to be a 15 day stay-at-home period to slow the spread of the coronavirus (Hauck et al. 2020). This time has since been extended but regardless people were advised to stay home from work and avoid gathering in large groups (Hauck et al. 2020). In order to account for the mass shortage of N-95 respirators, Trump enacted the Defense Production Act that allowed him to direct industry production (Hauck et al. 2020).

Since many people lost their jobs due to the coronavirus and even more companies were forced to close for the time being, many people lost any sort of income that they were receiving. To assist the large percentage of Americans who are currently experiencing financial instability as a result of COVID-19, Trump signed a $2 trillion stimulus package, the largest in U.S. history (Hauck et al. 2020). This money was distributed in $1,200 checks to most Americans and families received more. This stimulus package also provided billions of dollars to companies so that they could continue to pay their employees throughout the duration of the crisis (Hauck et al. 2020). The House later approved legislation that would contribute roughly $320 billion to the Paycheck Protection Program. The intention of this program is to keep small businesses from going out of business and to prevent employees of small businesses from having to file for unemployment during this pandemic (Hauck et al. 2020).

Ultimately, there is no denying that there were many things that the United States government could have done differently regarding this pandemic. There were countless opportunities for the administration to get ahead of the coronavirus and slow the spread of it. However, the mistakes have been made and there is no way to alter them, so the most important thing to focus on now is the present and advancing out of this crisis.

Works Cited

Hauck, Grace, et al. “Three Months in: A Timeline of How COVID-19 Has Unfolded in the US.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 29 Apr. 2020, www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/nation/2020/04/21/coronavirus-updates-how-covid-19 -unfolded-u-s-timeline/2990956001/.

Lipton, Eric, et al. “He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump's Failure on the Virus.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Apr. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-response.html?auth=login-email&login=email.