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| comment | | "parent_author":"",<br>"parent_permlink":"hive-175001",<br>"author":"shanghaipreneur",<br>"permlink":"coronavirus-response-china-v-us",<br>"title":"Coronavirus Response: China v. US",<br>"body":"It\u2019s a study in contrasts.\n\nWhen they finally realized what the coronavirus was capable of,<br> China stepped up. Yeah,<br> the Wuhan and local government messed up pretty bad in the beginning. But I hope history will judge them less harshly after we've seen countless other local governments drop the ball themselves. One just doesn't conduct one's governance expecting that a once-a-century plague is imminent. And that,<br> honestly,<br> is understandable.\n\nBut once the Chinese central government took over from the local yokels,<br> they took some pretty drastic measures almost immediately - like locking down almost 500 million people in megacities close to the virus epicenter,<br> instituting temperature checks everywhere,<br> enabling financial support from the central bank,<br> and daily communication of statistics and health tips to citizens.\n\nMeanwhile,<br> the United States government sat around in shock,<br> pointing fingers at what was going on in China and hoping that the soft border closing - Have you been to Hubei Province in the past 14 days? No,<br> well come on in! - would somehow insulate them from the spread of the most contagious virus in recent memory.\n\nNo US government - not at the local,<br> state or federal level - adequately prepared their emergency first responders. Nor did they purchase a surplus of supplies they would most likely need. Nor did they did pass any emergency funding measures in a timely manner. Now This Weekend in America is like a certain movie that has all of a sudden become a harbinger:\n\n![image.png (https:\/\/files.steempeak.com\/file\/steempeak\/shanghaipreneur\/xYpFO0gh-image.png)\n\nNone of these incredibly reasonable actions were taken,<br> despite the maxim that everyone knows:\n\n## Hope for the best; prepare for the worst.\n#\nInstead,<br> the US government - at all levels - appears to have been completely preoccupied with the 2020 election cycle. For much of February,<br> the virus was barely mentioned in policy debates. The thinking,<br> I guess,<br> was that as long as the stock markets were up,<br> the US was invincible. As if somehow unrealized gains can insulate you from infection! \ud83d\ude02\n\nBut now that we are facing a virus-induced Recession with a capital R and the Dow Jones is down almost 4,<br>000 points in a single week,<br> NOW all of a sudden the government is scrambling!\n\nhttps:\/\/media.giphy.com\/media\/3o7TKEtrfiUFQv4P2E\/giphy.gif\n\nC\u2019mon! You guys had 5 weeks to prepare for this! To have only 200 test kits in California,<br> one of the top destinations for Wuhan evacuees in Dec-Jan,<br> is just **completely irresponsible**. To not have properly trained fire departments the protocol for dealing with infected medical facilities,<br> as what happened in Washington,<br> is **a complete disgrace**. To only be testing people for the COVID-19 strain if they meet a laundry list of requirements despite showing every symptom is **absolutely preposterous**.\n\nI could go on...\n\nBut to the US government - Republicans,<br> Democrats & Independents alike,<br> there's plenty of blame to go around! - I have one thing to say.\n\nStep up your game!",<br>"json_metadata":" \"app\":\"steempeak\/2020.02.6\",<br>\"format\":\"markdown\",<br>\"tags\":[\"politics\",<br>\"virus\",<br>\"health\",<br>\"news\",<br>\"neoxian\",<br>\"palnet\",<br>\"actnearn\",<br>\"lifestyle\",<br>\"dblog\",<br>\"marlians\" ,<br>\"image\":[\"https:\/\/files.steempeak.com\/file\/steempeak\/shanghaipreneur\/xYpFO0gh-image.png\",<br>\"https:\/\/media.giphy.com\/media\/3o7TKEtrfiUFQv4P2E\/giphy.gif\" " |
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