Our health care system complicates virus response
By Max Nisen / Bloomberg Opinion
It was never a case of if, but when the novel coronavirus would start spreading in the U.S.; and now it’s happening.
Multiple states reported new cases over the weekend, and more are likely to emerge in the next few days. It’s becoming clear that the country isn’t as prepared, and its early response wasn’t as robust as President Trump has claimed.
The administration is starting to do some of the right things. It’s working to boost testing capacity, and that will help health workers get a handle on the spread of the disease and aid in containment; health officials are also now looking for cases entering the country from outside of China. These steps came far too slowly, however, leading to missed opportunities to catch and prevent infections.
Because of the peculiarities of the American health care system, the U.S. can’t only seek to replicate measures that have worked in other countries if it’s going to have the best possible chance at containing the Covid-19 virus. There is a long list of other actions worth taking within days rather than weeks.
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The administration isn't working hard enough to boost testing capacity.