The Trump administration greatly mishandled the crisis.
There is a theory that Trump's mishandling of the crisis is somehow what sets the United States or the west as a whole apart from the wealthy liberal East Asian states of South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong.
The problem with this theory, though, is that it doesn't explain why countries like Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Australia all dragged their feet every step of the way. (At the beginning, Germany seemed to respond extremely well, but once it became epidemic in other countries, they gave up.) People were not tested if they showed signs of the disease; they were only tested if they were connected to a known case. Travel was not restricted till the disease was already present in the target markets. When travel was restricted, it was too often done on effectively a racist basis. If you're Chinese, you're banned. People acted as though we would somehow be immune from this disease since our political/health system/language is just so.
In China and in the West, the response was always F-grade. Trump and the US deserve extra comment, but they are not the unique failures. It's the difference between 15 and 45. A huge difference, but a passing grade is 50.
There is a theory that Trump's mishandling of the crisis is somehow what sets the United States or the west as a whole apart from the wealthy liberal East Asian states of South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong.
The problem with this theory, though, is that it doesn't explain why countries like Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Australia all dragged their feet every step of the way. (At the beginning, Germany seemed to respond extremely well, but once it became epidemic in other countries, they gave up.) People were not tested if they showed signs of the disease; they were only tested if they were connected to a known case. Travel was not restricted till the disease was already present in the target markets. When travel was restricted, it was too often done on effectively a racist basis. If you're Chinese, you're banned. People acted as though we would somehow be immune from this disease since our political/health system/language is just so.
In China and in the West, the response was always F-grade. Trump and the US deserve extra comment, but they are not the unique failures. It's the difference between 15 and 45. A huge difference, but a passing grade is 50.