As the new coronavirus casts a frightening shadow across the nation and the world, it is glaringly obvious how poorly prepared we are for the pandemic — despite many warnings we should have heeded over the past two decades. Perhaps we will again escape without catastrophic consequences, although that is by no means certain.
If we do, it will largely be a function of lucky circumstance. But we may not be so lucky again. And there are many things that a competent and intelligent government can do — could have done — to prevent the worst.
Competent and intelligent government is not what exists in Washington now. We know that not only because everything President Donald Trump has said about COVID-19 is precisely false, or because the Trump administration has screwed up the simplest preparations for its spread, but because two years ago, this president dismantled the agencies created by his predecessor after the Ebola outbreak to cope with a future medical crisis. Continue reading.