cially in those already primed to be skep-
tical of experts. “Because this is a new in-
fectious disease, a new virus, we don’t have
all the answers scientifically,” says Colleen
Barry, chair of the department of health
policy and management at Johns Hop-
kins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
“I think that creates an environment that
could potentially erode trust even further
over time.” But the trust fractures on par-
tisan lines. While 43% of Democrats told
Pew in 2019 that they had a “great deal”
of trust in scientists, only
27% of Republicans said
the same.
Truly worrying are the
numbers of Americans who
already say they are hesi-
tant to receive an eventual
COVID-19 vaccination.
Mass vaccination will work
only with enough buy-in
from the public; the dam-
age the President and oth-
ers are doing to Americans’
trust in science could have
significant consequences
for the country’s ability to
get past this pandemic.
There’s another disturb-
ing undercurrent to Americans’ attitude
toward the pandemic thus far: a seem-
ing willingness to accept mass death. As
a nation we may have become dull to hor-
rors that come our way as news, from gun
violence to the seemingly never-ending
incidents of police brutality to the water
crises in Flint, Mich., and elsewhere.
Americans seem to have already been in-
ured to the idea that other Americans will
die regularly, when they do not need to.
It is difficult to quantify apathy. But
what else could explain that nearly half a
year in, we still haven’t figured out how to
equip the frontline workers who, in try-
ing to save the lives of others, are putting
their own lives at risk? What else could
explain why 66% of Americans— roughly
217.5 million people—still aren’t always
wearing masks in public?
Despite all that, it seems the U.S. is
finally beginning to make some progress
again: daily cases have fallen from a high
of 20.5 per capita in July to around 12 in
early September. But we’re
still well above the spring-
time numbers—the curve
may be flattening, but it’s
leveling out at a point that’s
pretty frightening. Fur-
thermore, experts worry
that yet another wave
could come this winter,
exacerbated by the annual
flu season.There are reasons for
optimism. Efforts to create
a vaccine continue at break-
neck speed; it’s possible at
least one will be available
by the end of the year. Doc-
tors are getting better at treating severe
cases, in part because of new research on
treatments like steroids (although some
patients are suffering far longer than ex-
pected, a phenomenon known as “long-
haul COVID”). As the virus rages, perhaps
more Americans will follow public-health
measures.
But there is plenty of room for im-
provement. At the very least, every Ameri-
can should have access to adequate PPE—
especially those in health care, education,food service and other high-risk fields.
We need a major investment in testing
and tracing, as other countries have done.
Our leaders need to listen to experts and
let policy be driven by science. And for
the time being, all of us need to accept
that there are certain things we cannot,
or should not, do, like go to the movies
or host an indoor wedding.
“Americans [may] start to say, ‘If every-
one’s not wearing masks, if everyone’s not
social distancing, if people are having fam-
ily parties inside with lots of people to-
gether, if we’re flouting the public- health
recommendations, we’re going to keep
seeing transmission,’ ” says Ann Keller,
an associate professor at the UC Berke-
ley School of Public Health.
The U.S. is no longer the epicen-
ter of the global pandemic; that unfor-
tunate torch has been passed to coun-
tries like India, Argentina and Brazil.
And in the coming months there might
yet be a vaccine, or more likely a cadre
of vaccines, that finally halts the march
of COVID-19 through the country. But
even so, some 200,000 Americans have
already died, and many more may do so
before a vaccine emerges unless Amer-
ica starts to implement and invest in the
science-based solutions already avail-
able to us. Each one of those lives lost
represents an entire world, not only of
those individuals but also of their fam-
ily, friends, colleagues and loved ones.
This is humbling—and it should be. The
only path forward is one of humility, of
recognition that if America is excep-
tional with regard to COVID-19, it’s in
a way most people would not celebrate.
—With reporting by Emily BaronE and
Julia Zorthian/nEw york 99
DAYS BEFORE
PRESIDENT TRUMP
PUBLICLY WORE A MASK
PER CDC GUIDANCE
66%
AMERICANS WHO DO
NOT ALWAYS WEAR
A MASK OUTSIDE
THEIR HOMES
SOURCES: NEWS REPORTS; GALLUP
From left: people sleeping in a parking lot in
Las Vegas after a homeless shelter shut down
because of COVID-19; the line for a drive-
through food pantry in Grand Rapids, Mich.;
cardboard cutout “fans” at an L.A. Angels
baseball game