BEIJING: Two major powers with two different systems on two sides of the Pacific Ocean have seen very different results in their efforts to prevent and control the coronavirus outbreak.
It did not take long for China to get the outbreak under control. Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, reported eight new confirmed cases on Mar. 12, dropping into the single digits for the first time. As the World Health Organization pointed out, 70 percent of the more than 80,000 confirmed cases in China have recovered and been discharged from the hospital, and the outbreak in China may be ending. However, as the number of cases of coronavirus in China continues to drop, the number of cases in the United States continues to rise. As of Mar. 11, at least 1,240 people in 42 states and Washington, DC, have tested positive for coronavirus, according to a New York Times database, and at least 37 patients with the virus have died. In addition, states are struggling to contain the virus and multiple states have declared a state of emergency. As one of the most developed countries in the world, the situation in the United States should not be like this. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Jan. 20 announced the United States’ first confirmed case of coronavirus in Washington State, but the US government until recently was dragging its feet. The US government had ample time to prepare, but the response has been downright embarrassing. Trump and senior officials held a White House press conference on US preparedness on February 26, 2019, reassuring the public that “the threat to America is low.” No one at the conference seemed to know that the virus was spreading in the United States. At that time, the global spread of the virus was also accelerating and as of Feb. 27, the virus had spread to 46 countries outside of China, infecting more than 82,200 people globally, according to the WHO. Two days after the conference, the WHO raised the global risk level to its highest level.
Obviously, the US government has been slow to respond to the outbreak and this has wasted precious time. Dr. Kurt Campbell, the former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, bluntly stated at a Hudson Institute event, “We were given some time by the unbelievably draconian steps that the Chinese have taken,” and then added, “I’m not sure we used that time effectively.”
– The Daily Mail-People’s Daily News exchange item
