The response of our nation’s leaders has been consistently inadequate. The federal government has largely abandoned disease control to the states. Governors have varied in their responses, not so much by party as by competence. But whatever their competence, governors do not have the tools that Washington controls. Instead of using those tools, the federal government has undermined them. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was the world’s leading disease response organization, has been eviscerated and has suffered dramatic testing and policy failures. The National Institutes of Health have played a key role in vaccine development but have been excluded from much crucial government decision making. And the Food and Drug Administration has been shamefully politicized appearing to respond to pressure from the administration rather than scientific evidence. Our current leaders have undercut trust in science and in government, causing damage that will certainly outlast them. Instead of relying on expertise, the administration has turned to uninformed “opinion leaders” and charlatans who obscure the truth and facilitate the promulgation of outright lies.
The fact that the NEJM is stepping out of its non-partisan role is evidence that by the time this is all done, with all the damage, and the 100s of thousands of dead Americans, and the obeisance to Russia by the Executive Branch, we will probably need some sort of truth and reconciliation process.
We’ll need something to offer even a modicum of redemption for every Trump enabler in the land.
Remember when the big deal was going to be that the Federal government didn’t provide the equipment that would be needed?
And then all of a sudden the states and hospitals had the equipment they needed, Cuomo saying that not one person died due to lack of equipment.
So now vaccines? There has been no evidence that anyone anywhere in the world worked harder or faster to develop vaccines than American drug companies, or that this could have been completed any faster…
As far as I can see the owners/editors of the NEJM have contributed nothing but their criticism of those doing the actual work.
No. I don’t remember that at all. The majority of the healthcare system still lacks the equipment they need. Most people are still well over 24 hours for COVID test results. Plenty of Hospitals still lack the necessary PPE to accommodate their front line workers interacting with infected patients.
I mean, sure there were ventilators that were made at the beginning, but we soon learned about this virus and came to understand that ventilators were not the short supply problem. The transmission of the virus and the need to have PPE was what was really needed. Trump failed to use the power of the office and the DPA in this regard.
Sorry your just wrong.
My daughter is an ICU nurse who has worked in 5 different states since this all began and she has now and has always had the equipment needed to do her job.
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