What happened
American life ground to a halt this
week as the coronavirus swept across
the country, prompting a histori-
cally unprecedented effort to isolate
people in their homes. With schools,
offices, bars, and restaurants closing,
the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention warned that widespread
“social distancing” was necessary to
slow the virus’ spread and prevent the
CDC’s worst-case scenario of 160 mil-
lion to 214 million Americans infected
and 200,000 to 1.7 million dead. All
the major sports leagues suspended
their seasons, and the NCAA basket-
ball tournament was canceled. Schools
were closed for some 30 million
children, or half of national enrollment. Americans, everywhere,
confronted eerie scenes of emptiness (see Talking Points) while U.S.
infections soared past 7,500, with 124 deaths. Globally, the tally of
those sickened surpassed 200,000, with more than 8,000 dead.
After downplaying the coronavirus for several weeks as similar to
a flu, and castigating the media for “panicking markets,” President
Trump abruptly changed his tone and messaging, warning that the
epidemic could last into August or later. “It’s bad,” he said. “It’s
bad.” But testing still lagged far behind the demand—about 41,
Americans had had one by midweek—leaving most people feeling
symptoms unable to know whether they had Covid-19. Federal
officials promised to make 1.9 million tests available by the end of
the week.
With swaths of the economy shutting down, House lawmakers
passed an emergency multibillion-dollar bill offering free testing,
14 days of paid sick time, and free food for children whose schools
are closed. Days later, Trump called on the Senate to pass an addi-
tional $1 trillion stimulus, which would include two $1,000 direct
payments, in April and May, to most Americans and $300 billion
in business loans and assistance. Mean-
while, the Dow Jones industrial average
has plunged more than 9,000 points in
recent weeks, wiping out all the gains
during Trump’s term.
What the editorials said
Meeting this crisis demands “a full-scale
national effort” on the order of the one
made during World War II, said The
New York Times. Trump needs to use
the Defense Production Act to mobi-
lize private industry to produce needed
medical supplies like ventilators, masks,
hand sanitizer, and test kits; deploy the
National Guard and Army to build ad
hoc testing and quarantine areas; and put
the unemployed to work disinfecting hos-
pitals and delivering food to the elderly.
Finally, the Trump administration is
“manning the health barricades,” said
The Wall Street Journal. In recent days
the president has deployed “the
full force of the federal government
and private business,” announcing
a broad swath of economic stimu-
lus measures and a plan to roll out
rapid testing around the country.
But Trump and his aides will have
“to take on the financial panic with
the same urgency,” with markets in
free fall and the GDP likely to drop
10 percent in the second quarter.What the columnists said
What grim irony, said Anne Apple-
baum in TheAtlantic.com. In January,
Americans mocked Chinese officials
for their Orwellian virus response,
smugly noting how the communist
regime delayed its response for three weeks, threatening doctors
into silence and insisting that no medical staff had fallen ill when
the opposite was plainly true. Now the very same farce has played
out in the U.S., with Trump administration officials slow-walking
testing for weeks so as not to anger the president, who preferred
to downplay the threat to protect his “political prospects.” This is
what you expect in a totalitarian police state—not here.Trump’s dithering has made him a “bystander” in the crisis, said
Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman in The New York Times. With
little clear guidance from the White House, the official response fell
to school superintendents, sports league officials, college presidents,
CEOs, mayors, and governors. Trump has since advised all Ameri-
cans to avoid groups of more than 10 and the elderly to remain
indoors, but for weeks he was “more follower than leader.”Actually, the federal government is almost always slow out of the
gate, said Rich Lowry in the New York Post. America was woefully
underprepared to meet the challenges of World War II, the Great
Depression, Sputnik’s launch, and the Mexican-American and
Civil Wars. The 2008 financial crisis was initially “greeted with
denial and half-measures.” Hurricane
Katrina, too. Eventually, though, mas-
sive resources were brought to bear, as
is happening today. Trump has finally
ditched the denial, said Stephen Col-
linson in CNN.com, and is combining
“unimpeachable facts” with somber
calls for “national unity.” This version
of the president “will save lives.”Trump voters are getting exactly what
they asked for “in spades,” said Julia
Ioffe in GQ.com. He promised he
would smash the bureaucracy and
the deep state “to smithereens” and
then dance on the rubble. Now all
Americans must pay the price for a
dysfunctional federal government that
relies on a “one-man, megalomaniacal
savior” rather than on the thousands
of dedicated, professional public
servants we once had. Let’s hope many
people don’t die as a result. APNational Guard personnel at testing site in DenverTHE WEEK March 27, 2020
4 NEWS The main stories...
Coronavirus paralyzes the U.S.
Illustration by Fred Harper.
Cover photos from Reuters, Getty, NewscomWhat next?
Scientists are warning “we made need to live
with social distancing for a year or more,” said
Brian Resnick in Vox.com. So far, such draconian
measures have proved the only reliable way to
prevent the virus’ spread. A vaccine is still likely
to be at least a year away, and herd immunity,
which only occurs after more than 60 percent of
the population has been infected, would require
the deaths of hundreds of thousands. A new
federal report also has a pessimistic timeline, said
Peter Baker and Eileen Sullivan in The New York
Times. The 100-page plan warned that the pan-
demic “will last 18 months or longer” and could
result in “widespread shortages that would strain
consumers” and hospitals. The report urged a
maximum federal response. “State and local
governments, as well as critical infrastructure and
communications channels, will be stressed and
potentially less reliable,” the report said.