Viruses come from nature, not from countries. Once detected, their spread within and between countries is a result of inadequate health care systems, bad leadership, lies, ignorance and corruption. All those factors are contributing reasons for an epidemic and its consequences.
As a consequence, blaming the place where the virus first appeared is not only wrong (and not what we typically do btw-The 1918 "Spanish Flu" was first seen in Kansas), it can lead to failing to address the contributing factors for the spread of the disease and the toll it takes.
If, for example, as is the case, the US has long known of the risks of a pandemic such as these, the president and his team ignored those warning and introduced policies & actions that made us more vulnerable, failed to respond to the outbreak of the disease quickly enough,
sought to suppress entry of infected Americans for fear of bad press associated with rising numbers of those affected, suppressed testing for weeks and weeks after it was clear that was essential to controlling the disease for the same reason,
promoted a story line that the disease was less dangerous than it was ("just the flu" or "will be gone soon" or "we have it under control") even when they knew that was not true, failed to mobilize a sufficient reaction to the disease to create and distribute more tests,
provide more ventilators, provide more medical supplies (like masks), make more facilities available, failed to respond swiftly to the secondary social and economic consequences of the quarantining steps necessary, denied responsibility for the failures in addressing the disease,
sought to blame others, kept repeating that all was going very well when it was not, refused to learn the lessons of science, kept the qualified out in favor of putting loyalists (some of whom were profoundly ignorant on theater) in charge, and continued to do so,week after week,
month after month, as the toll the disease took skyrocketed (and as lessons from successful efforts to contain it elsewhere in the world were ignored) then you have to ask: how much of the ensuing crisis is due to the disease and how much is due to its mishandling.
Based on that logic this may well be called the Trump Epidemic here in the US and he deserves the credit for the negative consequences it triggered--the Trump Recession and the Trump Stock Market Crash come to mind.
That's not politicizing this.
That's not politicizing this.
That's looking at the epidemiological factors influencing the spread of this disease into within and out from the United States and the origins of the suffering and hardship that millions are and will endure. It's objective truth.
And to fix the problem and do better future it must be acknowledged by all. This is not about politics. It is not about the "blame game" it is about saving lives, reducing suffering and protecting not only Americans but our neighbors around the world.
