Criminal negligence from the White House

I’m not an attorney (and I don’t play one on TV), so Google provides my definition of “criminal negligence:

⏩ “recklessly acting without reasonable caution and putting another person at risk of injury or death (or failing to do something with the same consequences)”

⏩ “… when someone acts in a way that is an extreme departure from the way that a “reasonable” person would have acted in the same or similar situation. Criminal negligence generally involves an indifference or disregard for human life or for the safety of other individuals.”

The slow and inadequate response of the White House to the clear, present, predictable and predicted harms of the pandemic has been an object lesson in public health mismanagement. A few key steps could have achieved containment of the virus back in January:

⏩ early acknowledgment of the risks of a novel agent that causes severe illness and death, is readily spread from person to person, and faces no barriers of immunity or reliable treatment

⏩ early creation and wide dissemination of virus testing

⏩ aggressive quarantine of individuals known to have been exposed to the virus

⏩ aggressive case tracking, with testing and quarantine as indicated

⏩ rapid manufacture and dissemination of protective gear, with clear messaging about its uses.

The majority of U.S. illness, death and disruption were avoidable. Early containment costs money and takes concerted effort and it works. The U.S. rate of COVID-19 mortality/100k population is 41.2; compare with 23.8 in Canada, 10.9 in Germany, 0.56 in South Korea, 0 in Vietnam.

The slogan to “make sure the cure isn’t worse than the illness” misses an important fact. The illness itself will always be much worse than the cure if we cannot, as a society, embrace fundamental public health measures against pandemic.

The White House’s departure from standard public health protocols makes a strong case for charging the president with criminal negligence. His failure to act early and ongoing confused messaging have cost tens of thousands of lives, with no end in sight.

Barbara Andrews Hamden