America needs nerds to help us and the world battle the coronavirus. Unfortunately that requires a nerdy, public service infrastructure, which Donald Trump and Co. have intentionally dismantled. Whether it is climate change or public health, this administration continues to install industry lobbyists to key posts rather than qualified and dedicated public servants. Meanwhile, the world burns and deadly diseases spread.
Our nation should be a leader in global emergencies like this, marching out an army of folks in lab coats with pocket protectors and experience facing down deadly pathogens around the world, from Ebola to SARS. But this is Trump's America where the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention face funding cuts. In Trump's America, science is suspect, lobbyists rule, and qualified epidemiologists are an endangered species. The administration has also diverted public health funds to his border wall, yes the wall which could not stand up to a gust of wind.
This sobering article from The Guardian describes why America simply is not prepared to effectively combat the corona crisis due to funding and staff cuts. Safeguards established after the Ebola scare have been dismantled. For example, we used to have a "global health czar" to coordinate between agencies and other nations in a pandemic such as we are now facing. Former national security adviser John Bolton decided to ax that position as unneeded for national security.
So who is leading the charge, such as it is? One is Dr. Robert Redfield. Yes, at least he is a doctor. However, this virologist is best known for his "abstinence only" approach to the AIDS epidemic. He replaced Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald in 2018. She lost her post after her investment in tobacco stock. The administration's public face for the coronavirus crisis is Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. His greatest hits include dramatically raising insulin prices while heading pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly U.S. branch. He also took considerable heat last year for his agency's treatment of immigrant children separated from their parents. Not exactly reassuring.
The coronavirus is already in this country, in multiple cities. The disease is spreading rapidly in China, with a ten-fold increase in confirmed cases in just one week.
Another danger - racism against people of Chinese descent. This is already happening. Given Trump's xenophobia and undisguised racial hatred, we cannot count on the administration to combat this contagion any more than the actual coronavirus. Already, most non-citizens traveling from China will be barred entry to the United States as of yesterday (Jan. 31.) Xenophobia against anyone who even looks Chinese has already been documented in Canada and the United States, specifically Toronto and San Francisco.
Call your members of Congress. Insist our federal government bring back the nerds and public health funding. Demand an end to lobbyists and unqualified people in agencies like the CDC and NIH. We need a robust public health infrastructure more than ever and a repudiation of xenophobic hysteria.
No comments:
Post a Comment