NEWS 5
4April 2020 THE WEEK
...and how they were covered
Whata“spectacularfailureofleadership”,
saidDanaMilbankinTheWashington
Post.InJanuary,USpresidentDonald
TrumpsaidCovid-19was“totallyunder
control”.Thenextmonth,asthevirus
swepttheworld,hepredicteditwould
soondisappear–“likeamiracle”–and,
justlastweek,hesaidhehopedtheUS
wouldbe“openbyEaster”.Thisweek,
asthecountry’sdeathtollpassed4,
–morethanChina’sofficialtoll,orthe
numberwhoperishedon9/11–Trump
finallyadmittedthatwon’tbepossible.
Instead,hesaidthathisadministration
wouldhavedonea“verygoodjob”ifit
keptthedeathtollbelow2 00 ,000.AsofWednesday,theUS
had190,000cases(morethanChinaandItalycombined).
Ifyouwanttounderstandthescaleofthisfiasco,comparethe
USwithSouthKorea,saidEdPilkingtoninTheGuardian.
BothcountriesrecordedtheirfirstCovid-19caseson
20 January.ButwhereasSeoulrespondedbymethodically
identifyingandtestingcarriers,theUS“becamemiredinchaos
andconfusion”. Just overtwo months later,SouthKoreahas
“moreor lesswon” itsbattlewiththevirus, limiting deaths to
165 .The US,meanwhile,is nowthecentre of thepandemic:
about 245 millionpeoplein32 states are onlockd own, and
its president haswarnedthat 240,000peoplecould die.
Some76,000cases –and 1,714deaths–have now been
recordedinthe stateof New York alone.Yet,asafield
hospitalopenedin Centra lPark and aUS navy hospital
ship dockedin NewYork City, Trumpwas playingpolitics
withmedicalsupplies, said the FT. WhileRepublican swing
stateslikeFloridaaregettingtheresources
theyaskforfromfederalgovernment,
DemocraticstrongholdslikeNewYork
arelefttofighteBay-stylebiddingwarsto
securescarceequipmentsuchasventilators
fromtheprivatesector.Meanwhile“theeconomyisinfreefall”,
saidMatthewA.BaumintheLATimes.
Some3.3millionpeopleregisteredfor
joblessbenefitsinoneweekand,evenafter
a$2trnstimuluspassedlastweek,the
FederalReservepredictedunemployment
couldreach 32 %.Amazingly,though,
Trump’sapprovalratingsaregoingup:a
recentGalluppollfound 60 %thinkhe’s
handlingthecrisiswell,and 4 9%sayhe’s
doingagoodjoboverall.Perhapsit’sthe
“rally-round-the-flag”effectwhichoftenaccompaniesacrisis.
Nonsense,saidMikeHuckabeeintheWashingtonExaminer
–it’sbecausehe’sdoingagoodjob.Trumpshouldbelauded
forhis“fundamentallyAmerican”strategyofkeepingthe
countryopenaslongaspossiblewhiledelegatingdecisionsin
individualstatestogovernors.Historywilljudgehimkindly.TheillusionthatAmericawasreadyforsuchacrisishasbeen
wellandtruly “shattered”, saidEd Yong inThe Atlantic.It
may have rankedfirstint he GlobalHealth Security Index’s
league of“pandemicpreparedness”, but Americahas fewer
acute-carehospital bedsper capita than Italy, poorly funded
publichealthagenciesand adearth ofscientific expertisein
the White House. Its responseto Covid-19 –“rudderless,
blindsided,lethargic” –is worsethan experts could ever have
feared. Butall isnotlost,said BillGates inThe Washington
Post.With moretesting, alockdowninall50 states, anda
“data-basedapproach”to findingtreatmentsandavaccine,
we can still “save lives and get thecountry back towork”.Trump: playing politics with supplies?
The US in crisis
Over the past three weeks, this magazine has hadacrash course in
what our HR people call “agile working”. Our office in Queensway,
London, has been closed down and our small editorial team has
been scattered to the four winds, then magically reconstituted in box rooms, bedrooms, kitchens
and other improvised spaces in crowded family homes, quarantined flatshares, travel taverns and
light industrial estates across the country–from Sheffield to Littlehampton, Essex to Monmouth.
Everything is done via virtual wizardry. All the sections of the magazine devoted to going out–films,
restaurants, galleries, travel–have had to takeanew form for the locked-down world. This isn’t a
plea for sympathy: we are painfully aware that everyone in Britain (indeed, more thanafifth of the
world’s population) has seen this kind of disruption, or much worse. But we are asking for patience.
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experience significant disruption to printing or deliveries. And if there’s anything
we could do better, please contact editorial to let us know.THEWEEK
Theo Tait
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Ed itorialchairman and co-founder:Jeremy O’GradyMore than two weeks have passed since the World Health
Organisation issued its “simple message for all countries: test,
test, test. Test every suspected case.” And so far, the UK’s
response has been too slow, said Anthony Costello,aformer
WHO director, in The Daily Telegraph. Germany has been
conducting 120,000 testsaweek for the past month, and its
Covid-19 death rate is eight per million people. South Korea had
managed more than 410,000 tests by 31 March, and has limited
its death rate to three per million. Here in the UK, however, we
tested an average of just 7,300 peopleaday last week, and our
death rate is currently at 21 per million–“and rising rapidly”.Without mass testing, the UK is fighting blind, said Ben Spencer
in the Daily Mail. At the heart of the problem isalack of capacity:
officials say they can only test so many people–currently limited
to the very ill and some NHS staff. Although the Government’stesting programme was expanded to an additional 40 labs in NHS
hospitals last month, it has still not been enough. Another issue is
lack of equipment–withevery country now ramping up testing,
demand far outstrips supply. According to Cabinet Office Minister
Michael Gove, there is alsoashortage of the chemical “reagents”
needed for testing, said Rowena Mason in The Guardian –
something the Chemical Industries Association this week denied.
All these issues must urgently be addressed if we are to reach the
Department of Health target of 25,000 testsaday by mid-April.Scientists are working on two different Covid-19 tests, said Robin
McKie in The Observer–apolymerasechain reaction swab test to
identify those who currently have the virus; and an antibody test
to identify those who have been infected but who should now be
immune. The Government has bought 3.5 million antibody tests,
but they are still being checked to ensure they work. Both are
needed if society is to return to normality, said The Sun. “Wide-
spread testing is the only way out of the coronavirus mess.”Testingtimes