Lessons Learnt from USA

On 15 May 2020 USA was on top of the list of corona patients with the tally of 14, 57, 593 overall amongst the 214 countries and territories infected with the pandemic so far. Though the number of fatalities in USA is also highest in the world with 86912 deaths, yet matter of solace is that it is only 5.96% of total infected cases, which is less than the world average with 6.69%. Total number of recovered cases poise at 3, 18, 027 with 21.82% recovery rate. In terms of mortality percentage USA is sitting comfortable as against Belgium (16.40%), France (15.33%) and United Kingdom (14.42%), Italy (14.06%) of infected people. USA has a habit to be on top in all spheres including sports and I have seen it heading the medal tally in Olympics on most of the occasions. Even in the latest 2016 Rio Olympics it headed the medal tally with overall 121 medals that included 46 gold, 37 silver and 38 bronze medals. USA one of the most developed countries in the world spent about 16.9% of GDP on healthcare system in 2018 that amount to $10,600 per person which is much higher than the second best in the list Switzerland that spent $7300 per person.
According to a research article published in the New England Journal of Medicine on 31st January 2020, the first case of COVID-19 was reported on 20th January in USA. President Donald Trump was totally ignorant of the future when he announced on January 22 that he wasn’t worried of the crisis as he felt that the situation was under control. Throughout February he continued to dismiss the alarm raised by Democrats apropos to the crisis, terming it a “hoax”. On 31st January, he was more than ecstatic to announce that his travel restrictions to China were sufficient enough to contain the corona outbreak. Alas! His parochial view terribly backfired as he didn’t know what was in the offing? On February 29, first COVID-19 related death was officially reported on the US soil. Epidemiologists and infectious disease experts began to appeal Americans to cancel social events and to self-quarantine themselves. Americans were as care free as their President and his cohorts were. The disease continued to spread throughout the country, largely undetected. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) USA were still in slumber and had administered fewer than 500 tests in the entire month of February 2020. Government’s top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci showed his displeasure on the tortoise pace of COVID testing in USA. Short sightedness of Trump’s administration put salt on wound when they ignored the expected surge of medical equipment such as PPEs, masks, hospital beds and ventilators. Moreover Trump administration was at loggerheads with the Governors who were sensitized enough with the grim situation and demanding the funds to augment their prepared ness for handling the crisis. President Trump remained oblivious to the fact that he was responsible for the fiasco, but was always in denial mode publically.
By now state and local leaders came forward to fill the leadership vacuum as they lost trust in the President and his coterie. Governors moved quickly to declare states of emergency and closed schools. Mayors imposed mandatory lockdowns and community leaders cancelled public events. Private sector also got sensitized by the gravity of crisis and led to the cancellation of Major Basketball and Soccer Leagues and scores of business activities came to halt. Cascade effect of the pandemic is in full swing by now and is ready to engulf Whitehouse under its enormity now. Realizing ultimately that mighty USA was going to lose battle against the tiny virus much smaller than little Rocket man Kim Jong-un of North Korea as President Trump called him, White House administration swirled into action and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced a $1.3 trillion stimulus package, including $500 billion in direct payments to Americans. Look at the plight of USA now as all three Corona advisors of President Trump i.e. Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Robert Redfield and Commissioner of Food and Drug Administration USA (USFDA) Stephen Hahn are on self- quarantine as they came in contact with White House spokesperson Katie Miller, who was tested corona positive recently. To add woes to agony of corona crisis US citizens are now getting impatient and restless due to long time lockdowns despite the fact that they are losing scores of their fellow Americans every day. One of the most developed health care systems in USA has come to crumble due to chaotic situation now and the problem is still aggravating leaps and bounds with more infections and equally substantial number of mortalities occurring every day.
Indian Government on the other hand took a timely decision before situation could go out of hands and through persuasion and coercion maintained historic nationwide lockdown which brought more than 1.35 billion people into virtual house arrest and the entire nation into stand still. Owing to these stringent actions, India was able to contain the massive outbreak of pandemic and was successful enough to slow down the transmission rate so that Government could pump in money through emergency fund and large scale philanthropies of citizens for strengthening its debilitated and dilapidated health care system. Meanwhile Government was able to buy time for building up quarantine centres and dedicated COVID hospitals besides procuring the necessary medical equipment such as corona testing kits, PPEs, sanitizers, imaging equipment etc. Meanwhile Government invoked indigenous industries and start-ups for producing cost effective medical equipment so that international dependencies could be minimized. Government agencies and PSUs such as DRDO, CSIR, BEL etc. are joining hands with private players for producing medical equipment. Initiative of Government for reviving indigenous industry is praise worthy. Now onus lies on its citizen to maintain patience and follow Government’s health, hygiene and social distancing guidelines to keep situation under control further and break the corona chain till we attain herd immunity or virus loses it’s virulence and India recovers back on its development path.

Dr Prashant Thapliyal
Assistant Professor
Army Cadet College
IMA Dehradun