The True Culprit of Coronavirus in the U.S.
There is a consensus among Americans that the government is responsible for ensuring the welfare and safety of the public. But when a pandemic like COVID-19 hits us, the very fabric of our social order is put to the test. Shutting down schools, workplaces, and establishments in the hopes the virus will disappear is not sufficient in keeping the vitals of this republic alive: we need to examine the root causes that led to coronavirus in the U.S. so we never have to experience a shutdown of this magnitude again.
I write this op-ed to inform and educate on policy. However, as an Asian American UC Berkeley student currently living under the most restrictive quarantine conditions in the nation, I will first respond to the rise in discrimination against Asian Americans in the U.S. following the coronavirus outbreak. I refuse to sit by and watch as waves of unsolicited racism pour onto members of my community over a virus that has no genetic link to the Asian diaspora. The fear and panic instigated by coronavirus does not justify racism towards Asian Americans. No infectious disease should ever be utilized as a weapon of hatred and bigotry against a racial group. The culprit of the spread of coronavirus in the U.S. isn’t a person or a group of people: it is our public health infrastructure and policies that have exacerbated the impacts of the virus.
First, the Trump Administration’s defunding of public health programs and weak initial response to coronavirus contributed to the fallout of the outbreak. President Trump disbanded the White House pandemic office and advocated for budget cuts on the CDC, NIH, and WHO.
At a 2018 press conference, Trump contended, “Rather than spending the money — I’m a business person. I don’t like having thousands of people around when you don’t need them.”
Defunding public health programs may save money in the short term, but when a pandemic strikes, it is ultimately our global economy that pays the price.
President Trump also downplayed the danger of the virus when it first broke out; on January 22, he stated, “We have it totally under control.” Between January and now, his administration has had opportunities to consult with experts, communicate with public health agencies, and develop a plan. His administration’s late response to the virus precipitated the haste to contain the virus after it already seeped into communities.
This slow reaction, however, is not specific to the Trump presidency; the U.S. has a long history of lacking a central procedure for addressing pandemics. From yellow fever in 1793 to influenza in 1918 to coronavirus in 2020, the U.S. has had a poor track record in monitoring and preventing diseases. Our Founding Fathers likely did not anticipate that a role of the federal government would be to mitigate a public health crisis. Yet the very sanctity of our nation now rests on its ability to fight a virus that infects more people by the day. Currently, we are in a state of suppression: we have isolated infected individuals and quarantined the rest of the population in order to slow down the transmission of the virus. Suppression, however, cannot fully succeed unless cases are reported. This underscores another major issue: the difficulty of getting tested for coronavirus in the United States.
Because there is a limited supply of coronavirus testing kits in the U.S., individuals cannot be tested unless they have been in contact with a reported coronavirus case or have traveled abroad. The first coronavirus testing kit released by the CDC was flawed and thus has been delayed in production. Compared to the 274,000 tests in South Korea and 134,000 tests in Italy, the U.S. has only tested over 81,000 people in a population of 330 million. This is the worst record of coronavirus testing in any developed country. The formal policy for those who suspect they have coronavirus is to self-quarantine and wait seven to fourteen days for symptoms to emerge before formally requesting a test. However, this policy highlights yet another issue in our public health infrastructure: no universal policy on paid sick leave in the United States.
Employers in the U.S. are not required to provide paid sick leave to employees — 1 in 4 American workers do not receive sick leave. Through the public health lens, jobs without paid sick leave increase viral exposure to everyone in the workplace. Recently, Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which gives and extends paid sick leave to workers in an effort to contain coronavirus. However, the bill only gives paid leave to 20% of private sector employees; corporations like McDonald’s and Amazon are exempt from offering paid leave. For the waitress at the diner, the janitor at the school, the cashier at the grocer — how can we expect them to sacrifice a week’s worth of pay to quarantine themselves when they, like 78% of Americans, are living paycheck to paycheck?
I recognize that all nations, not just the U.S., are responsible for preventing and containing coronavirus. China should have responded faster to this outbreak; European nations should have had a strategy in place before the pandemic erupted in their nations. This highlights an underlying issue within policy: it is reactive, not proactive.
What can we do to prevent another pandemic from shattering our economy, endangering people’s lives, and shutting down the organs that constitute our society?
We need to invest more in public health programs and initiatives. This includes reestablishing the White House pandemic office, allocating funds for public health programs, and working closely with global health organizations. We should also seriously consider implementing Health in All Policies, which would require all proposed legislation to evaluate its future health impacts. Health in All would be particularly useful in discussing issues like paid sick leave and childcare. Additionally, we need to expand the authority of public health agencies and place a greater emphasis on preventing outbreaks, instead of merely responding to them. As the population increases and cities grow denser, biological and environmental threats are an inevitable reality. We must develop a central procedure on preventing health crises. We must have mechanisms in place that actively work to measure and monitor disease before a pandemic is declared. Most importantly, our view towards health must change: health is not individualistic, but rather, the result of structures and institutions that influence the social, environmental, and economic factors of our living conditions.
Our reaction sets a powerful precedent with ripple effects on our history, culture, and national identity for generations to come. Rather than fear mongering or scapegoating, let’s treat the coronavirus outbreak as an opportunity to improve upon current systems that regulate population health, labor laws, and disease. Coronavirus has revealed areas that must be addressed in order to impede future pandemics, and above all, strengthen the foundations of human health.
We’ve survived two world wars, four industrial revolutions, and a newly digitized world, but our newest challenge is one we have yet to face, something more deadly and dangerous than any war or revolution — it is our lack of preventative measures and infrastructure in defending against an invisible adversary that walks among us and strikes at our most vulnerable.
