Coronavirus Crisis: US Government Slow to Respond Despite Wartime Measures - Essay Sample

Introduction

Coronavirus has impacted economies of different countries negatively since nations cannot conduct trade as there are restrictions in the borders. The government is slow in responding to the disease, and in the coming weeks, the number of deaths might rise. It is dysfunction and denial that beset the United States when Coronavirus raged. Although different wartime measures have been taken by the government, including banning incoming travelers, the government is still slow on responding to the disease as most Americans are working towards surviving the pandemic.

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Despite the extreme steps taken by the American government, United States will go down likely as it did not have enough preparations for fighting the pandemic (Abutaleb, Dawsey, Nakashima, & Miller, 2020). The pandemic has made the country to sustain more causalities as compared to other nations globally. It is currently leading in the number of confirmed cases and deaths. Even though the nation was not well prepared, it has more plans, resources, diseases experience, and expertise as compared to other nations that are better fending the disease (Abutaleb, Dawsey, Nakashima, & Miller, 2020).

Coronavirus outbreak is linked to social and health consequences that are considered significant social events in the 21st Century human life (Sadati, Lankarani, & Bagheri Lankarani, 2020). The thing that made the outbreak different is human biological life fragility and sterile society demand that is safe from any kind of hazard. The public health approach is the significant strategy facing most of the states as the pandemic has established social anxiety globally (Sadati, Lankarani, & Bagheri Lankarani, 2020). Therefore, the pandemic reminds the government that the current society is so vulnerable both mentally and biologically. It means that it is important to improve resilience not only on the biological basis but also at governmental, spiritual, mental, and social levels.

The United States is leading in the cases of Coronavirus, but not responding to the pandemic (Cornwall, Kaiser, Kupferschmidt, Malakoff, & Servick, 2020). Currently, the number of people infected by the virus has surpassed all other nations. A month ago, President Donald Trump said that the virus was under control. However, he currently warns that the virus might get worse in the coming days (Cornwall, Kaiser, Kupferschmidt, Malakoff, & Servick, 2020). Most of the officials across the country scramble to get enough protective gear, hospital supplies, and ventilators for their local hospitals, which are overwhelmed by Coronavirus patients (Cornwall, Kaiser, Kupferschmidt, Malakoff, & Servick, 2020). Some of the state governors have even put restrictions on slowing the pandemic. Despite these actions, the response of the pandemic in the U.S.A is still a work in progress that has conflicting messages from the different political leaders.

Apart from the government, American citizens were slow to respond to the pandemic. It is funny that they believed in the rumors and even went ahead to hoard toilet papers making people wonder the way toilet papers were related to the pandemic (Milligan, 2020). The reactions of the citizens came from fear and people's brain chemistry when there is a new danger. In such cases, people find it difficult to understand issues, and they keep on worrying. Risk perception psychology is not concerning the actual but mainly the way people feel regarding the risk (Milligan, 2020). Several factors heighten the fear of humans due to massive uncertainty. Even though the pandemic is risky, the fears of humans do not usually match facts as it overwhelms their ability to be reasonable regarding the numbers (Milligan, 2020). Apart from fighting the virus, people are also fighting fear, which seems to be more dangerous as compared to the virus. It is this fear that made people clean grocery shelves and even hoarding toilet papers.

Americans failed to regard to the issue of social distancing. Some churches still welcome thousands of worshippers. Someone said, "We hold our religious rights, dear, and we are going to assemble no matter" (Bergmann et al., 2020). Even though health care officials have urged people to avoid close social conduct, people still spend time in groups. Furthermore, some of the state and local governments have been reluctant to order businesses to shutter. In the CBS News, one of the Florida residents said, "If I get corona, I get corona. "At the end of the day, I'm not going to let it stop me from partying" (Bergmann et al., 2020). It is an indication that even the steps which are taken by good intentions in controlling the disease can have adverse impacts as most individuals are still ignorant of the disease.

Conclusion

In conclusion, although different wartime measures have been taken by the government, including banning incoming travelers, the government is still slow on responding to the disease as most Americans are working towards surviving the pandemic. Also, both the government and the citizens were not prepared for the pandemic. For instance, the government did not put enough test kits and protective gear in controlling the pandemic. For the citizens, Coronavirus has caused fear among citizens while others do not adhere to the set guidelines as most of the citizens continue with their activities despite the warnings

References

Abutaleb, Y., Dawsey, J., Nakashima, E., & Miller, G. (2020, April 04th). The U.S. was beset by denial and dysfunction as the Coronavirus raged. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2020/04/04/coronavirus-government-dysfunction/?arc404=true

Cornwall, W., Kaiser, J., Kupferschmidt, K., Malakoff, D., & Servick, K. (2020, April 01st). The United States leads in coronavirus cases, but not pandemic response. Sciencemag.org. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/united-states-leads-coronavirus-cases-not-pandemic-response

Milligan, S. (2020, March 19th). Americans Panic and Play During the Coronavirus Pandemic. U.S News. https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2020-03-19/americans-panic-and-play-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic

Sadati A K, B Lankarani M H, Bagheri Lankarani K. Risk Society, Global Vulnerability and Fragile Resilience; Sociological View on the Coronavirus Outbreak, Shiraz E-Med J. Online ahead of Print; 21(4):e102263. DOI: 10.5812/semj.102263.