In the United States, the coronavirus pandemic is not only a health and safety issue — it has also become a political issue, with prominent Democrats like New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer asserting that businesses and schools shouldn’t reopen until it is safe to do so and President Donald Trump arguing that the U.S. should reopen sooner rather than later. Gregg Gonsalves, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Yale University’s School of Public Health, discusses Trump’s push to reopen the country prematurely in an article for The Nation — and warns that doing so will result in countless deaths that could have been prevented.
The epidemiologist explains, “The president of the United States has made a decision — sort of — that despite the lack of sufficient testing, resources to embark upon the tracing of the contacts of all people testing positive for COVID-19, and the ability to humanely isolate those infected, we are nevertheless reopening as a country…. His message is clear: ‘we have met the moment, and we have prevailed,’ he announces — declaring victory over the pandemic, at least in his own rear view mirror.”
But in fact, Gonsalves warns, the U.S. hasn’t triumphed over COVID-19. Continue reading.