Since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the United States has been the country with the largest number of reported confirmed and dead cases in the world for a long time. After experiencing the "darkest moment" in January this year, the United States has ushered in the fourth wave of epidemics since mid-July. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States shows that as of the 14th Eastern Time, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the United States exceeded 41 million, and the cumulative number of deaths exceeded 660,000.
Why does the United States have world-class medical resources, but it encounters the anti-epidemic "Waterloo"? Since last year, many institutions have reviewed the mistakes of the US anti-epidemic strategy. In the final analysis, from the release of epidemic information, the implementation of epidemic prevention measures, to patient treatment, epidemic data statistics, to the distribution of vaccines and other medical supplies, the United States has been chaotic in every aspect of the epidemic response, not only causing the virus to raging in its homeland. , It also brought great damage and challenges to the overall situation of the global anti-epidemic.
The "root disease" behind these phenomena is a deep-seated defect in the American political system and values.
In the two-party system of the United States, some politicians have always put partisan interests above the lives, health and safety of the people. The new crown epidemic has become a "weapon" for the two parties to attack each other, and the "game of power" between politicians has brought tremendous damage to the fight against the epidemic.
As early as early January 2020, the National Security Council of the United States has received an alert, predicting that the new crown epidemic will occur in the United States and may develop into a "global pandemic." However, in order to keep the economic and employment figures "good-looking" and win approval ratings, the Republican government at the time deliberately downplayed the epidemic warning, restricted medical experts from releasing information to the public, and even issued false information to mislead the public, calling the new crown a "large flu" and infection. The risk and death rate of the virus are "very low", causing the "golden window" of epidemic prevention and control to be wasted in vain.
The Democratic Party is also half-hearted, and some Democratic Party officials have spent more energy on "talking" than fighting the epidemic. Former New York State Governor Cuomo, who was forced to resign due to a sex scandal not long ago, severely accused the federal government of inaction at the beginning of the epidemic, and his approval rate once soared. However, the investigation released by the New York State Attorney General in January this year showed that Cuomo's own report has drastically reduced the number of deaths from the state's nursing homes.
The anti-epidemic policy has also become a "bargaining chip" for party struggle. Politicians of the two parties have frequently launched a tug-of-war on nucleic acid testing standards, whether to wear masks, whether to resume work, the distribution of medical supplies, and the provisions of the rescue bill, which delayed the implementation of anti-epidemic measures. The US "Time" weekly website reported in May last year that the United States' delay in social distancing measures led to 90% of new crown deaths.
"Root Cause" 2: "Bulk" System
The United States implements three levels of government governance at the federal, state, and local levels. Public health affairs such as the new crown epidemic belong to the state power of each state, and the state and local governments are the main management. The "bulk" decentralization system has caused the United States to face huge obstacles in responding to the epidemic. The federal and state governments are working independently and constraining each other, making it difficult to quickly integrate resources to coordinate response.
The US federal government’s anti-epidemic measures lack mandatory regulations. Beginning in March last year, various states successively announced their own "home order", but some states were eager to restart in April and May. In April last year, seven East Coast states including New York State formed a "Multi-State Agreement", and three West Coast states including California established a "Western State Agreement."
The lack of guidance from the federal government on the guarantee of epidemic prevention materials and confusion in financing and deployment have caused the federal, state, and local governments to fall into a battle for epidemic prevention materials. At the peak of the spread of the epidemic last year, New York, California, Illinois and others rushed to buy ventilators, constantly raising prices, and even conflicting and blaming each other.
Clayborn, chairman of the Coronavirus Crisis Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives, criticized that six months after the outbreak in the United States, the U.S. government has still not formulated a unified national strategy to protect people's health. The direct result is that states have different steps in fighting the epidemic.
Most medical institutions and medical insurance companies in the United States are privately owned, and the high medical costs have long been criticized. The US government has neither the will nor the ability to change the dominance of capital. The priority of capital and the priority of interests make the people's right to life and health not guaranteed equally. The so-called "democracy beacon" has left a new record of human rights violations in the epidemic. For example, some medical institutions acquiesce in "selective treatment" for patients with the new crown, and poor people, ethnic minorities and other disadvantaged groups are the first to give up treatment.
The British "Guardian" website published an article that in the face of the new crown virus, the rich and powerful groups in the United States are given priority to be rescued. In a survey conducted by Gallup Consulting, 14% of American adults said that if they or their family members have symptoms related to the new crown infection, they will give up treatment because they are worried about not being able to afford the treatment.
According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in June this year, Hispanic Americans are twice as likely to be infected with the new crown as whites, and the risk of dying from the new crown is 2.3 times that of whites; Native Americans and people of African descent are also at risk of contracting and dying from the new crown. Are higher than whites. Former Director of the U.S. Public Health Service, Adams, said that the death rate of African Americans is much higher than the overall mortality rate, not because of physiological or genetic reasons, but because of social factors that make African Americans more susceptible to infection.
The epidemic has severely hit the US economy, a large number of people have been unemployed for a long time, the polarization between the rich and the poor, and racial conflicts have intensified, and the lives of the people at the bottom have become more difficult. Research by institutions such as the University of Chicago and the University of Notre Dame showed that the poverty rate in the United States rose rapidly from 9.3% in June last year to 11.7% in November of the same year.
"The Atlantic Monthly" commented: "It is not the new crown virus that tears the United States, but the epidemic has exposed the tears in the United States."