Why the Early US COVID-19 Response Set Us Up for Failure
In November 2020, the US added more than 3 million COVID-19 cases in one month. That level of spread makes it harder for the healthcare system to keep up and give high-quality treatment to every while simultaneously having enough resources to spare for emergencies like heart attacks, broken bones, giving birth to children, and so on.
What did the US do wrong? And what could the US have done to prepare for a widespread contagious virus like this one?
Well…. a LOT of things.
In my debut book, Necessary Symbiosis: What Happens When Science and Government Work Together (and When They Don’t), I explore how the early COVID-19 response by the US government laid the groundwork for our current situation — a raging pandemic across the entire country.
Below is an excerpt from my second chapter (formatted for Medium). Enjoy!
The current disorganized, partially staffed state of the government agencies tasked with the safety and health of the American public is another issue for the COVID-19 response. Back in 2017, Puerto Rico was hit hard by Hurricane Maria. Since then, the recovery has been slow. Government aid to Puerto Rico was at a snail’s pace, compared to the relatively rapid government aid sent to Texas after Hurricane Harvey.(1)
How does this tie into the COVID-19 outbreak? Puerto Rico manufactures many of the intravenous bags used in hospitals and clinics to treat patients of many illnesses, including COVID-19. Since Hurricane Maria, the supply of those bags has decreased, forcing hospitals and clinics to utilize syringes instead. That caused a syringe shortage. And with the way the globalized economy works with supply chains, many of the medical resources like syringes are manufactured in India and China.(2)
So if these supply chains are disrupted, either by natural disasters and recovering economies or by the outbreak itself like in China, that can pose a problem for the rest of the world that depends on receiving the products. Hoarding items such as toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and food can increase the panic and fear, and some people can take advantage of that kind of fear and drastically increase the prices of these items.
Two brothers, Matt and Noah Colvin, in Tennessee bought nearly twenty thousand bottles of hand sanitizer to sell on Amazon for much, much more than what they bought it for. But when Amazon and Ebay removed sellers who were price gouging, they found themselves with a huge hand sanitizer stockpile and nowhere to sell. Following a public backlash to that kind of self-righteous and selfish behavior, Matt Colvin donated that stockpile to a local church who will distribute it to those in need.(3)
Not only does that kind of hoarding lead to issues like price gouging, but it also forces many low-wage workers at Amazon warehouses to report to work in order to stock the shelves. That could then spread COVID-19 even further. But in states that have issued shelter-in-place orders, keeping non-essential workers at home, that can cause more panic when the deliveries don’t arrive since there aren’t any workers at the warehouses.(4)
Because of the lack of preparation by the federal government, there was a huge shortage of face masks, especially the coveted N95 masks that can filter out the majority of virus particles. Because of that shortage, people started making their own face masks. My mom started making masks and surgical caps for my cousin who is an ER doctor when he was in Fresno, and she donated nearly 100 face masks to a hospital in New Jersey. Other similar stories litter the news. Tattoo artists gave their supplies to hospitals. Facebook donated nearly 720,000 face masks. The crew of Grey’s Anatomy donated their PPE to hospitals in California. Even Elon Musk supplied masks and ventilators (although there are reports that the supplies he donated never reached where he said they would reach).(5)
While I love these stories about how the American public is stepping up in times of national emergencies, it is disappointing that it has come to this. If the Trump administration had listened to the scientists early on, back in late 2019 when the first reports out of Wuhan were part of the daily briefings, then we wouldn’t have to rely on the goodwill of America. We wouldn’t have so much death and suffering, both in terms of health and economic loss.
We would be much better off as a country. But instead, here we are, tens of thousands of American lives lost, tens of millions of people out of work, and lots of chaos and confusion.
Congrats America, we did it.
Over the next weeks, I’ll be sharing excerpts and stories from my book, Necessary Symbiosis, in this article series. My book Necessary Symbiosis: What Happens When Science and Government Work Together (and When They Don’t) is available here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PW4XP38. If you want to connect, find me on Twitter (@KarraVyshnavi), Instagram (@karravyshnavi, @necessarysymbiosis), and at www.vyshnavikarra.com.
(1) Nicole Einbinder, “How the Response To Hurricane Maria Compared to Harvey and Irma,” PBS Frontline, May 1, 2018.
(2) Ed Yong, “The Next Plague Is Coming. Is America Ready?,” The Atlantic, accessed April 2020.
(3) J. D. Simkins, “Air Force vet hoarded 17,700 bottles of hand sanitizer, then had no place to sell them — Sad!,” Air Force Times, March 17, 2020.
(4) Charlie Warzel, “Coronavirus Will Test Our New Way of Life,” The New York Times, March 2, 2020.
(5) Avery Hartmans, “Elon Musk lashed out at reports that he never delivered ventilators to California hospitals. Here’s what’s going on, and why Musk’s ventilator efforts have become controversial.,” Business Insider, April 17, 2020.
