When the Coronavirus first began to spread throughout the United States, we as a nation tried to form a unified (if haphazard) response plan. States and cities locked down for months in order to ramp up testing, tracing, and hospital capabilities to prevent the complete collapse of the hospital system. Despite this initial progress, many areas of the country only took the first step. We locked down, but didn’t follow through with the remaining steps needed to take this virus seriously. Now, even as cases surge again, we appear to have given up at the federal level of doing anything meaningful to stop the pandemic. Just this week, we surpassed over 60,000 new infections per day. Now, the policy of reopening everything full speed ahead is starting to show its shortcomings. More states are having to start back at square one, with economies shutting back down in multiple places. But it’s not too late to turn things around. Here are several ways the United States could be galvanized into action to seize this unique moment and provide real leadership at home and abroad.
This is what a failed response looks like.
On The Home Front
If there is one thing thats painfully clear, it is that we cannot expect good results at containment when we have 50 different policies and reopening plans happening all at once. We must have a unified federal response to shutdown, distancing, and mask wearing guidelines. Under any other time, an individual state’s rights would be important and take precedent, but the ONLY way to get this disaster under control is through a strong, unified, federal response. As we’ve seen, delegating all responsibility to the states has led to an uneven spread of the virus that allows it to go from one hot spot to the next without being properly contained. Even the most remote parts of the country are not immune from this. It’s a perfect opportunity for us to come together as a nation to work through a problem, but the division is being sewn from the top down. Through coordinated action plans, places like the EU have got their outbreaks mostly under control. But in America, we haven’t actually even left the first “wave” of the virus yet.
In addition to unified public health policies, the economic response must be stronger. We must have additional financial resources to weather this storm. The $1,200 in initial emergency relief was a great start, but is clearly inadequate for the prolonged problem we face. The additional $600 of unemployment benefits is set to run out at the end of July and millions of Americans are facing potential eviction as they fall behind on rent payments. With nearly 20 million Americans out of work right now, the situation is dire for large sections of the population. Additional stimulus must acknowledge the reality that this problem will go on for many more months to come. Furthermore, this spending must be properly accounted for. After the president fired the inspector general in charge of monitoring the PPP funds and CARES act stimulus, there are many reports of small business loans going to massive megachurches, large corporations tied to Trump allies, and even Kanye West. These organizations are not the ones at risk of dissolving forever in this crisis.
On the International Front
Even if we pretend things are fine here (which they aren’t), large parts of the world are really starting to suffer now as well. We can’t ignore their problems because they will inevitably come back here as well. This crisis is one of the greatest opportunities we’ve seen in a long time for true American leadership. We could be leading the way on demonstrating a science-based, intelligent response to this outbreak and its economic fallout. But instead, we have become a sick joke in the eyes of the world. Most nations, including the entirety of the European Union, have banned American travelers. The United States could be leading the way in mobilizing a virus response to outbreaks throughout the developing world, similar to how we responded to the Ebola crisis several years ago. Now, everyone knows America is one of the largest contributors to the problem, not a part of the global solution.
In addition to a proactive response to suppress the virus in remote corners of the world, the United States could also be leading the way on the development of a vaccine. Many companies are making significant progress on this front. But there has been little indication that the United States will seek to provide a vaccine to the poorest areas of the world. The single greatest public relations victory would be for the United States to develop a vaccine and immediately make it easily accessible to every corner of the world. Not only would this dramatically hasten the end of the global pandemic, it would also demonstrate once again that Americans are working to benefit the entire world (not just themselves). Sure, American citizens will probably be the first to get an American-made vaccine (and that is totally reasonable). But if we stop there, we’ll prove to the world that they can no longer count on America to do what is right.
The Bottom Line
We are not currently demonstrating the America we know and love from our history books. The United States helped light the fire of democratic governance throughout the world. We helped defeat fascism and tyranny in the Second World War. But now our top leadership appears to have given up. We’ve resigned ourselves to saying essentially “this is just how it is now.” Well, what if we said that when the Nazis controlled almost all of Western Europe? What if we just said “this is just how it is now” when the Confederacy seceded from the Union and murdered American soldiers so they could own people as property? Throughout our history, we have shown that we can do amazing things when we are all motivated to work together. But at this time when it matters most, we are retreating to the fleeting comforts of denial and defeatism. If we don’t step up to take the lead, another nation that doesn’t share our values or interests will take our place. There are plans out there to bring back American leadership and save us from the worst of this pandemic and recession. But we can only hope that things don’t get too bad before November. Change can come, but you need to act. Here are some helpful resources you can use to make a difference:
MN Voter Registration: https://mnvotes.sos.state.mn.us/VoterRegistration/VoterRegistrationMain.aspx
MN Vote By Mail: https://mnvotes.sos.state.mn.us/ABRegistration/ABRegistrationStep1.aspx
Wisconsin Voter Registration: https://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/
Voter Registration (All States): https://vote.gov/
Something about this response has to change. Failure to turn this around is not an option.