US pandemic woes self-inflicted: China Daily editorial

With more than 200,000 new infections daily and around 3,000 deaths per day, the American people are facing a grim winter despite the coming of vaccines. Of all the countries devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is beyond doubt that the United States has been hit the worst and is having the most serious crisis.

Could such a disastrous situation have been avoided?

Yes, it could.

If the White House had introduced the right policies and adopted effective control and prevention measures at the very beginning of the pandemic, the country would not be in the situation it finds itself in now.

The effective practice of social distancing and wearing of face masks by all Chinese people and strict bans on social gatherings in the country have proved effective in containing the spread of the virus. So has the practice of testing all residents in communities or even a district when infected cases are reported in order to cut the transmission chains.

But the US administration has dithered and failed to attach enough importance to what needs to be done to stop the spread of the virus. That the virus has proved so deadly and damaging in the US is a result of "the dysfunctional federal response led by a president perpetually in denial", as an article published in The Washington Post on Saturday cited experts as saying.

The US administration, which is known to be dismissive of science, despite its later claims that it sought to avoid panic, refused to acknowledge the seriousness of the coming pandemic and ignored the warnings of what might happen.

The White House was too preoccupied with the election and partisan politics to give enough attention to the control and prevention of the pandemic. The fixation on the partisan struggle has deprived US politicians of a sense of priority and they have failed to act in the interests of the American people.

The best chance to control an outbreak is at the very beginning. But equivocation, focus on conspiracy theories and the lack of organized timely response on the part of the administration squandered the opportunity.

The efforts to set up drive-through testing sites at groceries being a case in point. Thousands of testing sites were promised, but only 78 materialized, a far cry from what is needed.

The White House has taken credit for the swift development of vaccines, but while inoculation is important, the US will not be able to turn the tide without effective control and prevention measures.

People are dying every day in the US because the White House failed to lead the nation in a people's war against the virus.