Covid’s “third wave”: blaming it all on Trump
They warned us about it; now it’s here, said German Lopez on Vox. The much-feared winter surge predicted by the experts, the so-called third wave, is upon us. Having already suffered the highest death toll in the world from Covid-19 (8.7 million infected with it and 225,800 Covid-related deaths, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University), the US is now being hit by a surge of new cases: more than 85,000 were diagnosed last Friday. Much of the blame for that lies with Donald Trump. He urged the rapid reopening of the economy. Even after catching Covid himself, he tweeted, “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.” He even mocked people for wearing masks.
Compare Trump’s approach to that of California’s Governor Gavin Newsom, said Barbara Feder Ostrov on CalMatters.org. California managed to dodge the worst of the first wave that devastated places like New York City; but in July, cases hit 12,000 a day. But rather than press the panic button, Governor Newsom adopted a county-by-county approach, microtargeting testing and other “smart policies” to help control the virus. His consistent mask-wearing and frequent news conferences also signalled how seriously he was taking the disease. And now, in California, unlike most of the rest of the country, hospitalisations are actually on the decline. What a striking contrast to the way the president has behaved.
Not everything can be blamed on Trump, said Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times. Indeed, the states with most deaths per capita (New Jersey had the highest number, then New York) are almost all Democrat-led. But Trump has made everything worse “by channelling an anti-intellectual current that runs deep in the US”. Sidelining the experts, he has responded to the virus “with a sunny optimism apparently meant to bolster the financial markets”. One key figure he has sidelined, said Justine Coleman on The Hill, is Dr Anthony Fauci, the infectiousdisease expert. Fauci has long warned that most states are “going in the wrong direction”, and should impose more restrictions as winter approaches and people spend more time indoors. Yet on a call with campaign staff, Trump declared that Americans “were tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots” and were ready to move on from the pandemic. So Fauci has been marginalised within the coronavirus task force in favour of Dr Scott Atlas, a radiologist who claims the US is now approaching herd immunity, and questions the efficacy of masks. It’s deeply irresponsible. Trump is right that Americans feel exhausted by this virus. But “wishful thinking” is no antidote. Sticking our heads in the sand will only produce more unemployment, illness and misery.
There isn’t a lot else he can do, said The Wall Street Journal. Not long ago, Democrats were demanding he impose the kind of strict lockdown European countries tried out this spring (though then had to abandon through economic necessity). The result? Adjusted for population, the surge of new infections in the EU and the UK is greater than in the US. All of which shows that, “short of a perfect vaccine, there is no magic solution to Covid”. And it’s the story Trump should be highlighting, said Jim Geraghty in the National Review. Operation Warp Speed, the $11bn White House initiative to fast-track vaccines and therapeutics, shows every sign of being a whopping success. Two vaccines could be available by the end of this year, and experimental antibody cocktails, akin to the one that helped Trump bounce back from his bout of the virus, will soon be available to ordinary patients. That’s where the hope lies.