The United States and Britain were the two best prepared countries to fight a pandemic What went wrong?

On October 24, 2019 to 45 days before the case before COVID-19 suspects announced to the world: a new “scorecard” of the Global Health Security Index has been published called. The countries scorecard draw as they prepared a severe outbreak had to be passed, based on a series of measures, including the rapidity of a country was able to respond and how well its health system should “heal the sick and protect health of workers. “the United States before 195 nations under way and the United Kingdom ranked second. You read that right. The two countries to be on paper were the best prepared from a pandemic in June 2020 turned out deal, the two largest bankruptcies in the world in the fight against COVID-19. Appointment with 122.300 deaths-the death toll beyond what would be expected in a non-crisis conditions-United States ranks number one in this metric. In second place, with 65,700 more deaths in the UK There is a reason, the scorecard is so misunderstood: it does not consider the political context in which a national policy response is formulated for a pandemic and implemented. There is a similarity with the terrible political decisions of the President and Prime Minister Donald Trump Boris Johnson two leaders right wings “intolerant populist”, their nations were believed invulnerable usually rejected Science and facing inward and away from multilateralism. Their parallel decisions sent many of their citizens to grave. Even before COVID-19 hit, Trump and Johnson the importance of public investments were written off in health and degraded their national capacity for pandemic preparedness. A week before the inauguration Trump has pushed the outgoing administration Obama ready to receive its replacement team of a pandemic, which could be the worst since the influence in 1918, warns of possible respiratory failure and given the importance of a response Federal coordinated. The Trump team released According to reports, the Council. Instead, in May 2018, closed Trump pandemic dedicated to an office in the White House that President Obama has established Ebola outbreak after 2014-2016. And while the demands of the Trump Board for deep CDC overall cuts have been repeatedly rejected by Congress, the White House must be able to evisceration of Public Health Science and surveillance program of the CDC, which plays a key role in preparing for the outbreak. Across the Atlantic, a decade of austerity, that public health has been weakened has been aggravated by the UK and Gibraltar referendum on joining the European Union. In 2016, Britain has an exercise named simulation code “Cygnus”, which showed that the country would face a massive shortage of fans, and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the health of workers if a pandemic struck. But an investigation by The Times of London noted that addressing these deficiencies was “to maintain for two years, during the emergency planning has been diverted to deal with a possible non-Deal United Kingdom and Gibraltar European Union membership referendum.” On January 23, 2020, the World Health Organization has said that all countries had a risk of 19-COVID epidemic, say their preparations for containment “to achieve, including the active monitoring, early detection, isolation and case management, contact and prevent the spread on “. is a drama that both the US and UK could risk their nations to recognize believe that their uniqueness through and outbreaks have been some who would consider anywhere else in the world happened. A deep confidence in their national greatness was the basis of their epidemic preparedness programs were first COVID-19 British and American exceptionalism during COVID-19 reached its peak when both countries in the WHO guidelines for ignoring how to prevent crown transfer. The WHO called on all nations to focus on “Track and Trace” – to isolate and identify each case and track and exposed someone quarantined. But Dr Jenny Harries, England deputy chief medical officer, claimed 13 April 2020, that the monitoring was not necessary to say “the note with the WHO in its title, it is a World Organization of Health and interested all countries of the world with different health facilities “, as if the disease would respond differently in the UK. UK. and the United States did not adopt urgent measures to coordinate at national level the Track and Trace systems established to give uncontrolled virus, a free pass to the spread for about six weeks. It is still unclear whether a national monitoring will implement the policy today either country. In the UK, there was chaos around to manage the development of a new smartphone app for the process. In the US, the Trump administration has no intention of monitoring the implementation of the federal program so that states test. The US federal government is sitting on $14 billion allegedly to pay to the state and local level and the tribal areas for surveillance and contact tracing that failed. WHO guide decline is not the only example of these two countries denigrate science. President Trump hydroxychloroquine as a panacea for COVID-19, although the research shows is probably promoted ineffective; They have suggested that disinfectants inject the disease could be cured; He refuses to wear a mask; and he encouraged his followers to challenge the stay-at-home orders. His government has forced the CDC can spread from its leadership to remove recovery America a warning to churches in the chorus singing the crown. In Britain, the crown was in the midst of a moment confused relationship between government and scientists. The Johnson administration claimed that all its decisions “made by science.” They were, but its Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (says) was initially kept secret, hiding with his support, his closed sessions, and its unclear resolutions. David King, former chief scientific adviser to the British government in 2000-2007, told the New York Times that he has no idea when in the early stages of the outbreak, the administration of science Johnson was followed and said he did not know what he says that was the advice “and is not free to say that scientists, the public what their advice is.” at the end, instead of success stories based on COVID-19 science learning control in other parts of the world, such as New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea, the UK government has pursued before a dangerous strategy, discredited immunity flock of a large number of LED dead. Ironically, governments are now positioning scientists react to blame for their inability to take to the crisis. On both sides of the pond, there was a bed scandal of public health and nursing staff in hospitals and nursing homes without appropriate PPE or access to submit for testing. In both countries, nurses have been forced in some cases to Protect garbage bags to use their bodies and bandanas instead of N95 masks appropriate. Reports emerged in June that student nurses in the UK that have been moved to March for the first line to finish their training in July will no longer after 31 show paid less Boris Johnson has the way estimated nurses held the fort while his government was nowhere to be seen. Another striking parallel has influenced the way in which death COVID-19 Black disproportionately, Latinx, and Native Americans and black, Asian, British BME. The administration Trump and Johnson have government without working in terrible victims of the blame on structural racism behind these differences. Trump Health Secretary Alex Azar told CNN that “unfortunately” the American population and American blacks and “very different” minorities “in particular” “significant underlying disease.” The study of the U.K. Government because COVID-19 was disproportionately killing minorities was of interest groups to health panned to protect a plan for lack of minorities against the disease. The Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, Harun Khan, the critics said: “So do not choose the overwhelming role of structural racism and inequality discuss mortality and evidence of community organizations together to ignore while not providing or plan recommendations action, although this is the central aim of the revision is totally unacceptable. “it ‘a painful irony that the two nations that have probably the least favorite COVID-19 dead, vulnerable, especially among younger have been acclaimed as the world’s top two-prepared to avoid before the crisis. Of course we have, what does “readiness” to re-examine. The countries that their COVID-19 mortality rates kept very low little space on the scorecards alertness, such as Mongolia (ranked 46), Vietnam (50) and Iceland (58). The disastrous US answers and the United Kingdom to COVID-19 show that when we enter notes countries in the future, how well prepared they are to handle the next pandemic, we need to account for the decision country’s politics as one of the main determining factors.
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