To defeat COVID-19, U.S. needs a robust national effort with everyone making sacrifices

When the H1N1 swine flu crisis hit a decade ago, how did the governor of South Carolina react? Did the governor of Arizona perform well after the Sept. 11 attacks? Did officials in Tulare County hold a meeting to draft their own policy on Ebola? How did the mayor of Detroit respond to Pearl Harbor?

We normally don’t ask such questions because a national crisis requires a national, and not a patchwork, response. These emergency policies should be compulsory; the authorities shouldn’t tolerate, for example, an obnoxious sheriff openly flouting the directives or an enraged restaurant owner bucking government regulations.

Imagine, during World War II, the mayor of a coastal town thumbing his nose at the orders to black out windows so enemy ships couldn’t identify targets. Back then, such a person would have been shunned as unpatriotic or worse. But these days, those who rebel against government crisis management might be hailed as freedom fighters.

The Trump administration’s COVID-19 “policy” has been one dereliction of duty after another. The information about the virus existed in late 2019, but the White House kept it under wraps, then called the news a hoax, and finally adopted half-baked measures in response. Trump later lost interest in prosecuting the war against COVID-19 after realizing that a prolonged economic downturn would ruin his re-election chances. Re-opening schools and businesses, whatever the horrific cost, became the top priority.

Washington brazenly adopted the hands-off tactic of letting the states deal with it, as Mike Pence said: The federal government role was merely to step in, at times, in order to help out the states, but not lead the actual effort. Nonetheless, Trump wants credit for a national achievement after ceding responsibility to governors, counties and mayors. Even worse, he blocks the adoption of any promising strategy to battle the pandemic — it’s bad for his polling numbers if he acknowledges that the virus remains deadly.

The White House has been energetic in only two areas. The first is praising Trump’s “leadership” to the skies, over and over, as the bodies pile up.

The second is massaging statistics, in order to confuse people. If the national numbers look bad, take some states where the statistics are slightly less terrible, add them up, and claim they represent a glimmer of hope. If the numbers at the state level look bad, hive off some counties with slightly better statistics, put them together, and claim there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Overall death rate bad? Talk about some less-bad subset of people. Is today catastrophic? Remind people it was slightly better a week ago, meaning nothing to worry about. On, and on, and on. If only the actual anti-virus policies were as creative.

The U.S. needs a robust national effort with everyone making sacrifices. Several policies pursued with seriousness — a comprehensive lock-down, travel ban, reliable and easy-access nationwide contact tracing and testing systems, and 100 percent mask usage — could probably win the war. In three months, or six, or nine. A specific period of time, but with no slacking. The government has rescued many economic heavy-hitters. The money is certainly there for a short-term relief program that covers everyone, every month, until the crisis passes.

People will have to sacrifice, like in the (good) World War II movies you’ve seen.

Countries with robust national responses are winning for now, but a pandemic requires international cooperation, a drive the U.S. would have been counted on to lead in past decades. If the person in charge spends his time watching television and raging against anyone who doesn’t recognize his genius, instead of at least allowing others to lead the effort, then this country’s war against COVID-19, much less that of the world’s, hasn’t even begun yet.

Trump and his supporters talk incessantly about America’s greatness. Greatness doesn’t result from parroting empty slogans, flattering megalomaniacs, or citing abstract notions of “personal freedom” during a time of plague. Greatness results from achievements. Such as, providing enough hospital equipment and testing. Instituting a true travel ban, a national contact tracing system, and effective quarantines. Creating a vaccine. You know, things that a government either does, or helps others do.

The U.S. doesn’t have to lose this war. But in order to win, we must begin to fight.

This story was originally published August 14, 2020 at 11:00 AM.