Trump’s bad policies, incompetence, and disdain for science have been on broad display in the coronavirus epidemic. His statements contradict those of experts in his administration. His actions are making the coronavirus situation worse.
Trump actually started out with positive action. His early order to ban people traveling from China reduced and delayed the arrival of the coronavirus here.
However, he squandered all the benefits and then some by the incompetence in rolling out test kits. The administration decided to only distribute kits prepared by the Center for Disease Control. They ignored kits being prepared and distributed around the world by the World Health Organization.
They prevented private corporations from developing kits. And then the kits initially prepared by CDC didn’t work. So we lost four-to-six weeks in gearing up to test people in the U.S. This makes it much harder to identify and control the spread of the virus.
Before we ever heard of the coronavirus, Trump had taken steps to reduce our ability to identify, study and address any new viruses.
In 2018, Trump dismantled an office at the National Security Council to coordinate government-wide pandemic preparedness and response. Trump has reduced the budget for infectious disease programs at the CDC. Trump also closed 39 of 49 foreign offices designed to help prevent global disease outbreaks. So we were a lot less prepared to deal with a new virus than we were under President Obama.
Trump’s disdain for experts and science has been on display in several of his public pronouncements. He claims he has a “hunch” that the actual mortality rate from the coronavirus is much lower than reported by the WHO and other medical experts.
He implied it was okay for people who have a mild version of the virus to go to work as they will get better on their own. This ignores the ability all of these people have to pass the virus to coworkers. His words and actions seem to place more interest in his poll numbers and the stock market than fully informing the American public and keeping us healthy.
The coronavirus may represent Trump’s first real crisis of his presidency. Unfortunately, he is off to a failing start. We’ll all be better off if experts like Dr. Fauci can be allowed to do their jobs without interference from the White House.
Bob Kleinman
Port Washington
