US is 21st in per capita deaths (and falling... that is, it was 18th a couple days ago.)
Spin all you want about testing and the like.
But, the fact remains that the US's medical system is doing a better job than the other western countries.
Its striking that Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Belgium, UK, Sweden, Denmark, and Austria have more per capita covid deaths than the US. (Looks like Germany is about to be added to that list.)
I do not see how any rational and objective analysis could characterize the US's response as 'particularly flawed'.
There is no sense in comparing per-capita deaths this early in the pandemic, especially when the spread of the virus in the US trails a few weeks behind that in Europe. Talk to me in a few months. Furthermore, per-capita figures are meaningless when comparing areas of substantially different population size and density (e.g. Austria, Switzerland) to the US. _I_ do not see how a "rational and objective analysis" like yours can ignore these basic mitigating factors when making such comparisons.
The US was weeks behind Italy in the initial spread of the virus. If the Chinese example wasn't enough to learn, at least what was happening in Italy should have been.
At least for me and many other people, I suppose, when I saw what happened to Italy is when I saw what was going to happen here. It has been painful. It is like watching a train wreck happening in slow motion, and you are in front of the train.
Similar mistakes were made by seemingly every country that hadn’t dealt with a SARS virus before. This might be partially explained by the leadership position the US has traditionally enjoyed on the world stage.
>Did the administration cause every other countries problems with containing the virus too
The American people did not elect and pay other countries to take care of them, they did for their government. The administration dismantled the pandemic team from the highest levels and along with their media cronies, actively minimized it for several weeks[1][2] and made it political, which is costing lives now. The other countries did not do that to Americans.
When you use the word “administration” are you thinking about a few hundred elected and directly appointed officials or the hundreds of thousands of government employees? Because it seems like the employees bungled the job.
Not for nothing, but we are 3 years into an administration that has done everything it could to push out career employees with lifetimes of expertise.
There have been failures from the top to the bottom. But let’s not pretend that there hasn’t been a systematic, intentional degradation of these agencies that has only served to exacerbate those failures.
I voted for the guy specifically because the agencies were rotten and the civil service needs deep reform. I’m very disappointed that the law has not need changed to so that more government employees can be immediately fired.
Based on the current growth of cases, it looks like the situation in the US will be way worse than other western nations. Even when you adjust for population size.
Is this true? I thought the hot spots in the US locked down earlier (in terms of case counts/deaths) than other countries. But I haven't looked into it very much.
It only feels like the US locked down earlier because we were under the false impression that we got the virus later than Europe.
Indeed we probably got the virus at the same time as European countries but had no idea because we didn’t test....that’s why we have more cases than any other nation except Italy and China (and soon will have more than Italy).
No, but it offers a stark comparison of the actions taken by "leader" of the "free world" vs countries like South Korea and Taiwan who managed to control the outbreak.
The United States is supposed to be the most prepared country to deal with a pandemic like this, yet the administration failed at its duty to protect its citizens and economy, even with ample warning from the world's best medical experts and intelligence agencies.
If America is struggling to contain this, how are impoverished countries supposed to?
> The United States is supposed to be the most prepared country to deal with a pandemic like this
Based on what? For years - long before the current administration - health experts in the US have been talking about how unprepared the US is for a pandemic. So where did you get this idea?
Saying that only Republicans do this is ridiculous. The Democrats are masters of identity politics, which was totally unproductive in all aspects by design. Handouts and freebies to buy votes and appeal to the most basest desires while ignoring all personal responsibility. Using mass illegal immigration to influence elections. Using outright voting fraud to influence elections. All in a total effort to cement power--it's all about the power, not what they will do with it once they have it. Which, news flash, isn't going to be good for the productive citizens of the US.
Did the administration cause every other countries problems with containing the virus too?