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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow the Pandemic Will End
The U.S. may end up with the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the industrialized world. This is how its going to play out.https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/03/how-will-coronavirus-end/608719/
Three months ago, no one knew that SARS-CoV-2 existed. Now the virus has spread to almost every country, infecting at least 446,000 people whom we know about, and many more whom we do not. It has crashed economies and broken health-care systems, filled hospitals and emptied public spaces. It has separated people from their workplaces and their friends. It has disrupted modern society on a scale that most living people have never witnessed. Soon, most everyone in the United States will know someone who has been infected. Like World War II or the 9/11 attacks, this pandemic has already imprinted itself upon the nations psyche.
A global pandemic of this scale was inevitable. In recent years, hundreds of health experts have written books, white papers, and op-eds warning of the possibility. Bill Gates has been telling anyone who would listen, including the 18 million viewers of his TED Talk. In 2018, I wrote a story for The Atlantic arguing that America was not ready for the pandemic that would eventually come. In October, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security war-gamed what might happen if a new coronavirus swept the globe. And then one did. Hypotheticals became reality. What if? became Now what?
So, now what? In the late hours of last Wednesday, which now feels like the distant past, I was talking about the pandemic with a pregnant friend who was days away from her due date. We realized that her child might be one of the first of a new cohort who are born into a society profoundly altered by COVID-19. We decided to call them Generation C.
As well see, Gen Cs lives will be shaped by the choices made in the coming weeks, and by the losses we suffer as a result. But first, a brief reckoning. On the Global Health Security Index, a report card that grades every country on its pandemic preparedness, the United States has a score of 83.5the worlds highest. Rich, strong, developed, America is supposed to be the readiest of nations. That illusion has been shattered. Despite months of advance warning as the virus spread in other countries, when America was finally tested by COVID-19, it failed.
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great article so much more at the link
OhioChick
(23,218 posts)Derek Thompson: America is acting like a failed state
Rudderless, blindsided, lethargic, and uncoordinated, America has mishandled the COVID-19 crisis to a substantially worse degree than what every health expert Ive spoken with had feared. Much worse, said Ron Klain, who coordinated the U.S. response to the West African Ebola outbreak in 2014. Beyond any expectations we had, said Lauren Sauer, who works on disaster preparedness at Johns Hopkins Medicine. As an American, Im horrified, said Seth Berkley, who heads Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The U.S. may end up with the worst outbreak in the industrialized world.
A big K&R
Celerity
(43,359 posts)I love to support these great semi-long form journo magazines.
OhioChick
(23,218 posts)Good for you.
Did you see this article?
Another good read.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213176366
Celerity
(43,359 posts)OhioChick
(23,218 posts)rampartc
(5,407 posts)for profit medicine, globalized industry, "just on time" logistic, scientific ignorance, positive thinking, suppression of facts and statistics, criminal leadership at the presidential level, etc etc etc
if this were a biological attack it could not have been better designed to exploit the weaknesses of american culture.
rickyhall
(4,889 posts)People can be so stupid. Go to church Easter & die. Not me, I'm be watching tv.
SergeStorms
(19,201 posts)but I've noticed many churches in the area are offering services online. For what it's worth.
BigmanPigman
(51,591 posts)Realistic and depressing....thanks to tRump.
lapfog_1
(29,204 posts)and it continues to be a failure of leadership
"he United States has a score of 83.5the worlds highest. Rich, strong, developed, America is supposed to be the readiest of nations. That illusion has been shattered. Despite months of advance warning as the virus spread in other countries, when America was finally tested by COVID-19, it failed."
America didn't fail - Trump failed.
Edited to add - We didn't actually deserve that high of a score but at least with good leadership the f**king inadequacies in our healthcare system would not have been nearly the liability they are.
ashredux
(2,605 posts)underpants
(182,803 posts)chwaliszewski
(1,514 posts)mtngirl47
(989 posts)I have been optimistic about my chances. Now I need to think about the coming post-covid world.
Whiskeytide
(4,461 posts)SergeStorms
(19,201 posts)In the U.S., the Strategic National Stockpilea national larder of medical equipmentis already being deployed, especially to the hardest-hit states. The stockpile is not inexhaustible, but it can buy some time. Donald Trump could use that time to invoke the Defense Production Act, launching a wartime effort in which American manufacturers switch to making medical equipment. But after invoking the act last Wednesday, Trump has failed to actually use it, reportedly due to lobbying from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and heads of major corporations.
Some manufacturers are already rising to the challenge, but their efforts are piecemeal and unevenly distributed. One day, well wake up to a story of doctors in City X who are operating with bandanas, and a closet in City Y with masks piled into it, says Ali Khan, the dean of public health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. A massive logistics and supply-chain operation [is] now needed across the country, says Thomas Inglesby of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. That cant be managed by small and inexperienced teams scattered throughout the White House. The solution, he says, is to tag in the Defense Logistics Agencya 26,000-person group that prepares the U.S. military for overseas operations and that has assisted in past public-health crises, including the 2014 Ebola outbreak.
This agency can also coordinate the second pressing need: a massive rollout of COVID-19 tests. Those tests have been slow to arrive because of five separate shortages: of masks to protect people administering the tests; of nasopharyngeal swabs for collecting viral samples; of extraction kits for pulling the viruss genetic material out of the samples; of chemical reagents that are part of those kits; and of trained people who can give the tests. Many of these shortages are, again, due to strained supply chains. The U.S. relies on three manufacturers for extraction reagents, providing redundancy in case any of them failsbut all of them failed in the face of unprecedented global demand. Meanwhile, Lombardy, Italy, the hardest-hit place in Europe, houses one of the largest manufacturers of nasopharyngeal swabs.
We're fucked.
kentuck
(111,094 posts)Take the time to read.
gademocrat7
(10,657 posts)Thank you. Knowledge is empowering.
bronxiteforever
(9,287 posts)dewsgirl
(14,961 posts)I am terrified.😭
Celerity
(43,359 posts)All my best wishes and hopes, I am sure she will be fine!
dewsgirl
(14,961 posts)rate, but she is high risk, so that's not possible.
Celerity
(43,359 posts)tech.
dewsgirl
(14,961 posts)She's been trying to look into alternatives.
Cetacea
(7,367 posts)Much appreciated!
liberalla
(9,247 posts)qwlauren35
(6,148 posts)I think the painful part is the envisioning of Trump winning and the country becoming more xenophobic and isolationist.
The wonderful thing would be if we could respond to something like this within 1 month.
Let's shoot for that.
Danascot
(4,690 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I am thinking maybe these days I should just pony up and get a subscription. I'm on a pretty tight budget, but I really love their articles. The one good thing about quarantine is that I am saving quite a bit of money by not leaving my apartment.
No money on commuting, beverages (mostly iced tea), lunch, the occasional treat, Uber/Lyft, dinners/movies, etc. Also, every time I go into a grocery/drug store, I just kind of throw things into my cart on a whim, whereas when I shop virtually, I am a bit more frugal and focused. I also just eat less and I'm less hungry for some reason.
Celerity
(43,359 posts)They are superb and I love to support great writing.