U.S. COVID-19 ReportIssuing time:2020-08-03 23:44Source:原创 Morethan four months have passed since Trump declared a state of emergency in theUnited States, but the situation caused by the pandemic has not yet improved. Initially, Trump referred to the novel coronavirus as flu. As aresult, the infectiousness of this disease was greatly underestimated andspread quickly. In March, many states successively issued stay-at-home orders.Thanks to which, the situation was gradually stabilized, although death rateremained high still. While effective against the pandemic, the stay-at- homeorder hindered the economic development of the United States, promptingdissatisfaction from unemployed and low-paid workers. At the end of May, thelargest demonstration in the US broke out in decades, as the Minneapolis policeofficers violently enforced the law and caused George Floyd, a 46-year-oldblack man, suffocate to death. Meanwhile, the outburst of anger and stressposed higher risk of infection on dense crowds. Even worse, as the governmentdecided to reopen business and restore the economy, given opportunity for thepandemic to rebound and become more uncontrollable, affecting even youngercrowds. ”We are still knee-deepin the first wave of this," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of theNational Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said recently.
As of 6:30pm. on July 22, 2020, the death toll of COVID-19 in the UnitedStates has reached 144,877 and confirmed cases 4,023,263, with recordsingle-day spike of 68,800. Numbers are still climbingsharply, but turning point is not yet coming. At the same time, the positiverate of the COVID-19 detection has also been rising, from 6.7% on June 23 to7.5% on June 26, and then to 8% on July 3. As of July 14, 10 existing states have been marked as“red states", with positive detection rate exceeding 10%. Medical suppliesin various states are running short. (From the realtime data pandemic reportof Baidu, USA Today | pandemic data, graphs.)
Accordingto data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), thenumber of people with antibodies to the new coronavirus may be ten times thenumber of confirmed cases. In other words, every patient detected is equivalentto ten more patients - the current number of infected people in the UnitedStates may be ten times than the published data. According to the coronavirusmodel projection of the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation of theUniversity of Washington that by November 1, 2020, death rates inAmerica will reach 208,000. Fauci has repeatedly warned and advised Trump overpandemic measures, but the latter did not take it seriously. Since July 15,Trump has asked American hospitals to bypass the CDC and send epidemic datadirectly to the Ministry of Health. Trump's move has raised doubts, and somepeople worry that the US epidemic data will be manipulated and false. 2. Causes Behind the Situation With the COVID pandemic gettingworse and worse, the reasons behind this are complicated. There arepoliticians' whitewashing, public blindness, and too much “freedom” of speechbringing chaos to the market. In general, the root causes could be drawn asfollows. Ⅰ. All decisions of the Trump administration regarding the pandemic arebased on whether they can be used in re-election, not whether they can maximizecitizens9 safety US failure in coping with the COVID-19 pandemicis mainly the result of Trump administration's inaction. Trump called on statesto reopen before the pandemic was completely controlled, causing the newlyeased disease to rebound again. Trump has also repeatedly “comforted” thepublic crowds with shocking words, calling the coronavirus as “kung flu”，or “Cases are going up in the U.S. because we are testing far morethan any other country, and ever expanding. With smaller testing we would showfewer cases!” On June 20, local time, a campaign rally was held in theRepublican Party's ticket warehouse, Tulsa, Oklahoma, which was the mostseverely affected area in the state. The Trump administration's intentions are obvious. It is not within hisconsideration to ponder about the severeness of the pandemic nor death toll,but necessary measures that canvass for the next election like restarting theeconomy and solving unemployment rate. Common folks in China are well aware of COVID-19,shorror. As a big country with a population of 1.4 billion, even most have noinfected victims around them, the whole country has started its first level ofalert quite early on; and up till July 24, 2020 China has managed to controlits number with 86,461 infection and 4,656 deaths via strict measures likesetting up temperature detection points in public places and all citizenswearing masks by default. However, the US situation is much more serious thanin China at the time, but the American people seem to slacken off their alertand gather around in public places. Not mentioning, holding a hearing over anseemingly not-worth-discussing issue of “whether or not to wear face masks”.
What is behind thisstrange phenomenon? The main reason is that the public’s understanding of theCOVID-19 mainly rely on the information on television and the Internet thatconstructed by the mass media. The scattered attention of the US media hasdiminished the severity of the pandemic. The United States is a country that believes infreedom of speech, “I do not agree with what you say, but I swear to defendyour right to speak”. Excessive freedom is indulgence. As a result, themainstream opinions in the market become chaotic, and all kinds of informationare mixed and muddled. Even if there are correct opinions, they are mixed incountless false point of views and neglected. Theresult is that people can only choose to believe in more frequently heard“authoritative” views, that is, statements from the government, even if couldbe ill-advised. Another reason is thatbecause the class division in the United States (between the elite and ordinarypeople) is very serious, the gap in cognitive level has also become huge. Atthis point, the United States is similar to the country with the third worstpandemic situation, India that of more elites and more civilians. A largenumber of civilians that are not well-educated may be misled into ill judgmentand are more likely to fall into misinformation and blindness. Ⅲ. loopholes in medical system causing shortage of medical supplies Inthe early stage of the outbreak, the US government did not pay attention to itand condoned it to become uncontrollable. On the one hand, hospitals’capacities in various states have almost reached their limits - the huge numberof diagnoses per day has brought great pressure to medical staff, and drainedtheir strength to track close contacts. Medical workers are slowly losingconfidence by the heavy-stricken circumstances that supplies are running out, governmentsupport is far from enough and public alert is insufficiently low. Onthe other hand, most people cannot receive proper treatment. Social isolationbrings unemployment, and unemployment causes a large number of people to losehealth insurance. Most people in the United States lean on their commercialmedical insurance, which are only available if one can keep a job. According to relevant statistics, from February to May alone, 5.4million people in US lost their medical insurance. For the unemployeddisadvantaged ones, even if diagnosed with infection, they cannot afford theheavy cost for treatment.
Ⅳ. Traditional Belief and Culture American traditional culture is characterized byfreedom which not only stands for freedom of speech and of belief but alsofreedom of leaving oneself to its fate. Most Americans believe in Christianityand the punishment of the god. They are convinced that death is a new lease oflife when faced with devastating disasters, which greatly serves to stabilizethe society. Inaddition, respecting human rights is also the foundation of America. It is dueto its restriction of people’s liberty that the stay-at-home order aroused muchdissatisfaction among the public. After dissolving the stay- at-home order,beaches in Florida are packed with dense crowds in less than 20 minutes. Thatis probably why President Trump has seen his approving rating is rising eventhough he has delayed and fatal approaches to the pandemic like objecting to wearingmask and letting America work again.
II. A Rising Tide of Anti-intellectualism Arising tide of anti-intellectualism is the most unique and prevailingphenomenon in America amid the COVID-19 pandemic, characterized by informationoverload and plenty of fortunetellers. For instance, in April Trump suggestedinjecting disinfectant into the body to kill the virus, and some people eventried it. As a result, many leading disinfectant companies claimed, “we mustclear that under no circumstances should our disinfectant products beadministered into the human body(through injection, ingestion or any otherroute).” Recently, PresidentTrump claimed to reopen schools in the fall and forced them to teach face—toface, exposing students to a higher risk of contracting the disease.
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