virus

First of all I don’t understand why Jared Kushner was part of yesterday’s coronavirus briefing. Once he started speaking it really turned to a twilight scenario. His comment that medical supplies in the stockpile are ours totally forgets that the official name for that safety net is the National Emergency Stockpile. Since our nation is a Republic of 50 states and some territories, they all are entitled to receive supplies from that stockpile. Jared’s ignorance on this topic and some others appears to be BOTTOMLESS. For a Senior Adviser to the President he lacks required knowledge and expertise. Unless he became a health expert by reading 60 books which he believes worked for him in understanding the Middle East situation!

The world wide coronavirus crisis is having one serious impact which is being minimized and that is that international cooperation isn’t a top priority for any country. The countries in the European Union, which supposedly has open borders, are increasingly shutting down their own as a control mechanism against the virus. Actions to fight the virus differ country by country with social distancing being the only commonality. In the meantime the USA and China, the two largest economies, follow different approaches to minimize the virus impact on their economies. In the US the administration has made great sums of money available to banks to prop up markets while China has embarked on a huge infrastructure program to contain an economic slow down. While you see a deteriorating solidarity among European countries, China is stepping into the void. Their government has send supplies of protective gear and masks and even medical teams to Spain and Italy. There is one similarity between China and the USA worth mentioning. China initially kept the virus outbreak under wraps, then fought it in a radical way and after having suffered much loss of life seems to be recovering. The USA has the same story. The President first called the virus a Democratic hoax and only a few days later a national emergency. The administration’s response is still sporadic and in many cases inadequate. As a result, we have not yet controlled the outbreak. All of this proves, in my opinion, that rather than working together as one large international community in times of crisis, we still focus only on ourselves.I really don’t see the :’ Everybody against anybody approach benefiting us at all!’.

Each country seems to have reactions to the coronavirus which makes you wonder which country is doing the best way of dealing with it.If you are French, you have a president who closes everything from midnight but the next day invites you to vote despite over the country having over 6,500 infected citizens. If you are German, your chancellor announces that a probable infection is for 70% of the population but does not spell out any possible solutions. If you are British you have a Prime Minister announcing that many will have to get used to losing loved ones. Almost implying that waiting to have people die is a normal event.If you are Spanish, you see your president Sanchez declaring the state of emergency closing everything and thus emulating Italy’s actions. But once his wife is identified to be infected, he doesn’t feel that additional testing is required. Finally, if you are an American, President Trump was photographed in the company of an infected person. He first refuses to be tested, then gets tested and offers to buy a German firm which my have a vaccine in development.Finally he declares a national emergency and people form queues not only to buy groceries and medications but also arms and ammunition. If you are an Italian you have your country in lock down but you now see light at the end of the tunnel since the situation is stabilizing. I ask you now which county had the best response?