President of the United States announced on Trump 13, the new coronavirus outbreak, the United States into a state of emergency. At present, there are more than 1,700 confirmed cases and 40 death. in the United States
Entering a national state of emergency means that the federal government can use more resources to fight the epidemic and respond more flexibly and quickly. In the name of a state of emergency, the president can implement more stringent preventive measures.
At the same time, he recently met with Brazil`s president and accompanying senior Brazilian officials confirmed the new crown infection news Trump whether infected with the virus has also become the focus of attention.
Public opinion inflection point
This week, the new crown virus outbreak and public opinion in the United States appeared a major inflection point.
11(Wednesday), the World Health Organization announced that the new coronavirus (Covid-19) has met the global pandemic disease definition. On the same day, more than a thousand cases were diagnosed in the United States, and the American stock response fused.
At the same time, the president Trump made a national speech announcing a 30-day travel ban on Schengen countries in Europe starting Friday.
Trump made a national speech at the White House criticizing Europe for not responding fast enough to "foreign viruses"
The Trump speech was soon out of the limelight, however: the shocking news that Hollywood movie stars Tom Hanks and Mrs. NBA have been diagnosed with the new crown virus in Australia and the season has ended quickly swept public opinion.
Overnight, the u.s. public`s perception of the epidemic took a sharp turn and vigilance soared. "Social alienation "(social distancing), meaning to maintain a safe distance or self-isolation, suddenly became a hot word on the Twitter, with a jump in references.
For those who are concerned about china`s initial outbreak, the scene looks familiar, like a blowout of information and public anxiety on chinese social media on january 20th. On the same day, Zhong Nanshan, an expert on respiratory diseases in China, publicly said the epidemic had been transmitted.
Thus, it is not so much the who and Trump speech that led to a shift in american public opinion as the confirmation of hollywood celebrities, the suspension of sporting events, and the rush of american stocks that finally sounded the alarm for the general public: the virus is, and it is time for people to change their daily lifestyle.
A large number of companies began building councillor home-based telecommuting on thursday and 13, with schools at all levels in several states announcing extended spring breaks and closing student dormitories in front of which paper boxes for moving were piled. The main roads, which are usually busy, are now very few. Major sports leagues have been suspended, concerts, public speaking, marathons and other major events cancelled, Disneyland lights out closed.
On Thursday night, the wife of neighboring Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau was diagnosed with the virus, drawing attention and heated debate
Even politicians at the heart of Washington politics can not rest easy under the epidemic. The U. S. parliament announced a closure to the public after senator and government officials were self-isolated and a senator staff member confirmed the virus.
Democratic presidential candidates biden and sanders will debate sunday, but they will face an empty audience. Because of the spread of the epidemic, the debate will begin without a live audience. Louisiana has announced a delay in the presidential primary.
And the president Trump just a few inches from the virus. One of brazil`s president`s aides confirmed he was infected. He accompanied him five days ago to visit Trump`s private home, haihu manor, and Trump 、 vice president, pence. On the photo, he clung to Trump, head and wore a baseball cap that read "Make Brazil Great again ".
Burns said earlier that he had been tested for the virus and had not been infected, but the White House has not confirmed whether Trump have been tested.
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[医]Adventitious viruses
Now, when journalist apply for a pass to the White House journalist, they are asked ," Have you been outside the United States in the last 30 days? "This is an additional question after the outbreak began to spread.
A notice was posted Washington front of the downtown office building :" If you have been to a foreign country with an outbreak within the last 14 days or have had close contact with a confirmed patient, please do not enter the building. "
Such criteria, which focus only on the history of foreign travel and close contact with patients, are clearly outdated and inadequate, with outbreaks already occurring in communities of unknown origin in the United States. The new crown virus is spreading around the world, but Trump government still seem to view it as an alien threat..
Closed to the United States government adopted the main means of epidemic prevention. In February, passengers from China and Iran were banned from entering the United States. On friday, march 13th the schengen countries of europe were also on the ban list.
Trump blamed europe`s failure to implement a travel ban on china in travel ban on China in time for the growing U.S. epidemic.
Critics, however, point out that italy, the first european country to impose a travel ban on china, is now the country with the largest number of confirmed cases outside china. It was also questioned whether the European travel ban justified the exclusion of Britain. After all, the UK is only 50 kilometers from the European mainland, and the epidemic is spreading.
Epidemic prevention loopholes
What can not be concealed by closed-door means is that there are many loopholes in the epidemic prevention and early warning system in the United States.
The white house national security council had a global health and safety team that should have led the u.s. epidemic prevention policy, led health departments at all levels, and coordinated epidemic prevention with the world health organization. but in 2018, the group was disbanded under the instructions of former national security consultant bolton (John Bolton).
New York state epidemic prevention personnel check body temperature for passing people in local "control area"
Emergency national reserves (national emergency stockpile) containing large quantities of masks, medicines and medical equipment are also urgent. This body was established after the September 11,2001 events to prevent an anthrax attack on the United States. Emergency reserves, known to few for 21 years, seem to have remained unmaintained and are under severe strain. After all, the new crown virus is the biggest outbreak crisis in the u.s. since the influenza H1N1 in 2009.
An estimated 300 million respiratory masks (respirator mask) are needed to ensure the safety of health-care workers if the outbreak breaks out in full, but only 12 million are currently in reserve.
There are still some 13 million N95 masks in the reserve, but health minister azar says as many as 5 million may have expired. government recently promised to buy 500 million more masks, the restocking will take 18 months to complete.
According to the Washington post, when the worst-hit states in the u.s. asked for 230,000 masks from the national emergency reserve, the emergency reserve initially promised to provide less than half the amount.
Some of america`s cumbersome regulations on disease control also slow the process of epidemic prevention. According to a recent report in the New York Times 》, these regulations were meant to protect the privacy and health of the public, but ultimately delayed the nationwide promotion of virus testing.
The inspection strength is insufficient, the test standard is too high, the examination and approval process of the local laboratory carries on the test is lengthy. For a variety of reasons, the United States missed the golden age of epidemic prevention, followed by incalculable public health and economic crises.
Suspected u.s. patients who had been to china within two weeks and had close contact with confirmed patients had to be tested for the virus and were criticized for being too high.
The White House has repeatedly said that Americans can now be tested with medical guidance. But on social media, it`s not hard to find people`s complaints about testing without access. The person concerned usually has to wait on the hotline for a long time before being informed that he or she has a severe cough, fever, and a history of travel and contact to qualify for testing.
Tom Wright, senior researcher at the Brookings Institution in the United States Think Tank, said on the Twitter that if Tom Hanks were in the United States, he might not be eligible.
Insufficient detection
The US still lags far behind other developed countries in detecting the virus.
The CDC estimates that 10,000 tests have been completed nationwide. Because one person can accept multiple sampling tests, the number of people actually tested is lower than this number. South Korea, by contrast, test 20,000 people a day.
U.S. medical system is not yet able to protect people`s needs in the event of a public health emergency such as a new outbreak, Anthony Fucci (Anthony Fauci), director of the American Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a parliament hearings on the 12th. "It must be admitted that we failed in quarantine. "
Fucci, who recently appeared frequently in the media, is the top public health specialist in the United States and is known on Chinese social media as "Zhong Nanshan, USA ". While mr fudge is part of the white house special anti-epidemic team, he has repeatedly rejected Trump claims, including that the new crown virus is no more prevalent than flu threat 、 not endemic across the country, but disappears as temperatures rise.
Fucci`s speech at the 10th White House briefing on the more pessimistic than ever.
"I hope that the nation will begin to realize that, as a nation, we can not act as we have the past few months. Whether you`re in a state with a case or a state without an outbreak, you need to start looking seriously at what can be done. "I`m sorry and saddened to say that the infection will come. "
Health-care deficits
Even less optimistic, virus testing is only the first step, and the subsequent treatment, isolation, will further amplify the shortcomings of the US health care system. Currently, testing at CDC is free of charge, but testing at private institutions requires a fee.
Trump announced that Medicare would waive the co-payment (co-pay) for new coronavirus treatment, i.e. the cost of out-of-pocket payments for patients. However, the insurance company immediately clarified that it only exempted the cost of virus testing. This means that patients without quality health care may have to spend thousands of dollars on treatment. For many ordinary American working families, this may be unbearable.
Passengers wearing masks and gloves on the New York subway
Unlike many countries in Europe and Asia, the United States does not have a public "health care service ", but only a" health care industry "dominated by private insurance companies.
As Trump said in his national speech that the United States had "state-of-the-art health care ", people laughed.
The British Broadcasting Corporation north american editor-in-chief sapper (Jon Sopel) wrote that the pneumonia epidemic is a problem that Trump have never encountered before, a problem that does not shift to human subjective factors. Trump`s near-paranoia about support and stock-market figures led him to misrepresent a number of statements that contradicted health experts in the early days of the epidemic.
WANG Yasheng, vice president of the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), wrote that since Trump came to power, the U.S. public health and epidemic warning system has been damaged, and has been hit by a economic downturn, election-year political turmoil, and so on, causing the new crown virus to blow up a "perfect storm" of a series of negative factors in the United States.
