Think tanks: The U.S. is 'world's No. 1 anti-pandemic failure'

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Clinicians intubate a COVID-19 patient in an ICU at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital in Lake Charles, Louisiana, U.S., August 10, 2021. /CFP
The U.S. continues to rank first on the global lists of COVID-19 cases and deaths despite having the highest health expenditure among developed countries.
"Flying in the face of stark reality, some U.S. media have rated the U.S. as 'number one in the world' for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is contrary to basic human ethics and facts," said a research report jointly released earlier this week by three Chinese think tanks – Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of Renmin University of China, Taihe Think Tank and Intellisia Institute.
The report, entitled "The Truth about America's Fight against COVID-19," said the U.S. is the world's No. 1 anti-pandemic failure. It was compiled by dozens of former politicians, intellectuals, scholars, policy- and decision-makers.
A country with the most COVID-19 cases and deaths
As of Sunday, the U.S. has reported more than 36,099,344 cumulative confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 614,267 deaths, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO). In terms of both numbers, the U.S. ranks first in the world.

The U.S. has the most confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world. /Screenshot of WHO's COVID-19 dashboard
Wave after wave of COVID-19 outbreaks
As the globe's largest economy, the U.S. health expenditure has long been unmatched. The country boasts abundant medical resources, an excellent public health team and a complete emergency management system.
However, it has not been able to bring the coronavirus situation under control. The curve has never flattened as the country has experienced three infection surges since 2020 and is now dealing with a more devastating fourth wave fueled by the more contagious Delta variant.
The U.S. has been registering new record-high COVID-19 infection numbers in the past week, with the seven-day average topping more than 135,000 cases, according to data from the WHO.
In late June, there were about 10,000 new cases a day on average. Since July 1, there's been a 700-percent increase in the week-over-week average of COVID-19 infections in the country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The U.S. has experienced three surges of COVID-19 infections since 2020 and with a fourth wave underway. /Screenshot from the report
Anti-science and anti-common sense
Why has the U.S. seen wave after wave of infections and failed to enact effective containment measures? The report found that the Trump administration had repeatedly ignored early warnings about the outbreak and tried to downplay the risk. An anti-science and anti-common sense attitude was the direct reason why the U.S. failed to contain the epidemic.
In the spring of 2020, scientists had already obtained some knowledge of COVID-19, and the WHO was continuously raising the alarm about the risk of a global pandemic, pointing out that active detection and isolation of infected cases is the key to cut off the spread of the virus, the report noted.
However, the U.S. government ignored scientific facts and spread false information through various channels such as the White House press conferences, mass media, and social media.
At first, the White House held a "don't panic" attitude and the federal government took few specific measures to prevent the outbreak. Then President Donald Trump even publicly said several times that there would be no major outbreaks in the U.S. and that the virus would "suddenly disappear like a miracle." Many people in the U.S. went so far as to say that COVID-19 was no different from an "ordinary flu."
The Trump administration "failed to plan, prepare, and honestly assess and communicate the threat to the country, leading to catastrophic results," current President Joe Biden said in a signed article in April 2020.
Therefore, the U.S. missed the "golden window period" to control the first wave of the outbreak, the report said.
Besides, the prevention and control measures in the U.S. all went against common sense, it said.
For example, on the question of whether people should wear masks to prevent the spread of the virus, the U.S. government failed to convey the information correctly. In addition, Trump had promoted high-risk "anti-COVID-19 magic medicine" hydroxychloroquine on his Twitter account, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration later warned against and highlighted its potential serious side effects. He also confused people about COVID-19 testing, claiming that too many tests in the U.S. led to soaring cases, and called for people to "slow down the testing."
A Cornell University study revealed that by May 26, 2020, about 38 percent of the fake news about COVID-19 in English media mentioned Trump.
The false information has not only greatly misled the American people and underestimated the risk the virus posed, but also resulted in the infection of countless people who trusted such dubious messaging.

Think tanks: The U.S. is 'world's No. 1 anti-pandemic failure'

"Flying in the face of stark reality, some U.S. media have rated the U.S. as 'number one in the world' for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is contrary to basic human ethics and facts," said a research report jointly released earlier this week by three Chinese think tanks.

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America, 'world's No. 1 anti-pandemic failure', what leads to it?
Updated 20:55, 12-Aug-2021
By Shi Yu
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File: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during an announcement related to small businesses, in Washington, D.C., February 22, 2021. /CFP
With the number of COVID-19 hospitalized patients in the past week reaching 66,000, the new high since February, and a daily average confirmed cases of over 100,000, the U.S. seems has fallen into an endless fight with the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to data from the WHO, as of August 11, 2021, the U.S. had reported 35,824,366 cumulative confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 612,973 deaths. U.S., the most developed country in the world, ranks first in the world in terms of both numbers.
Considering the large contrast, a research jointly conducted by three think tanks - Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies under Renmin University of China, Taihe Institute and the Intellisia Institute - took an in-depth study on the poor performance of the U.S.
Titled "'America Ranked First'?! The Truth about America's Fight against COVID-19," the report published on Monday called the U.S. "the world's No. 1 anti-pandemic failure" and concluded that the leading reasons lie in three aspects, namely the partisan competition, economic-centered strategy and anti-science attitude.
Party first
Partisan competition is recognized as the direct cause of the U.S. anti-pandemic failure, said the report, pointing out that both Democratic and the Republican, the two major parties in the U.S., take COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to suppress the other party and gain popularity from the voters.
According to the report, the Republican states were facing relatively low pressure in the early days of the pandemic, thus, the U.S. government under Donald Trump's administration, chose to ignore the warning and tried to downplay the risk so as to keep the economy and stabilize the Republican base.
The intention can be noticed from Trump's repeated statements which claimed the risk of COVID-19 in the U.S. was "very low" and the virus was no different from an "ordinary flu." It is the party-first strategy let the U.S. constantly miss the window period for effective anti-pandemic measures.

Supporters of U.S. then President Donald Trump gather at the U.S. Capitol, January 6, 2021. /Getty
Despite the Democrats, which always stands at the opposite side of the Republicans, fighting back by slamming the Republican's response as leading to "catastrophic results," it spent more energy on arguing than actually fighting the virus.
"The two parties use the pandemic to demonize its rival. They take the pandemic control as a blame game and act solely on party's interest," said Wei Nanzhi, deputy director of the Social and Cultural Research Office of the American Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
The report further attributed the pandemic failure to the "systemic failure" where federal, state and local governments were struggling with clear divisions and even confrontation. "The U.S. was fighting against the pandemic under a 'disunited America' pattern of response to the pandemic," as it noted.
Capital first
The cause of such systemic failures, according to the report, is rooted in "the profit-seeking nature of capitalism."
Compared with the slow response to the pandemic, the U.S. acted much more swiftly when it comes to saving the stock market. The Federal Reserve took "extraordinary" measures which printed excessive money – nearly half of the amount it printed for more than 200 years in the past a year and a half – most of them flowed to the stock market to save it after the collapse in last March.
The excessive issuance of money inevitably caused inflation and "bubble" pressure both at home and abroad. Under the circumstance of the COVID-19 outbreak, the additional economic and social pressures brought by the inflation also broaden the gap between the rich and the poor, soared the commodity price, and eventually amplified the division and exacerbated political conflict and regional chaos.

Rectangles designed to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 by encouraging social distancing line a city-sanctioned homeless encampment at San Francisco, U.S., May 21, 2020. /AP
A Brookings Institute survey released on May 6, 2020, showed that 17.4 percent of the households with children under 12 years old do not have sufficient food. A report from The Guardian last November also revealed that the need for food aid in the U.S. is 60 percent higher than it was before the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the wealth accelerated into the hands of a few since net worth of the 614 billionaires in the U.S. increased by $931 billion during the pandemic while poverty rate rises from 9.3 percent in June 2020 to 11.7 percent in November.
On the other hand, the U.S. was taking "selective treatment" in the anti-pandemic fight where the poor can't afford the treatment and the elderly were unable to receive medical care. "This (U.S. health care) was designed to protect the interests of capital, not the public interest," as the report pointed out.
Politics first
The anti-science attitude towards the pandemic is another barrier that hinders the U.S. from taking proper measures. And U.S. President Trump, as study from Cornell University showed, may be the biggest promoter of COVID-19's false information.
The study highlighted Trump impact on the spread of false information by noting that about 38 percent of the fake news about COVID-19 in English media mentioned Trump, starting from May 26, 2020.

U.S. infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci (R) and U.S. then President Donald Trump after a press conference, Washington, U.S., March 26, 2020. /CFP
Citing Trump's remarks such as calling COVID-19 an "ordinary flu" and promoting medicines that may cause serious side effects, the study warned that the false information not only greatly mislead the American people and underestimated the risk of the virus, but many people are seriously hurt by trusting their absurd remarks.
Apart from the ignorance of science, the U.S. is also keen on politicizing scientific questions in order to meet its political ends. The matter of origin tracing is a good example.
According to the report, Washington has been presupposing the conclusion of "Wuhan laboratory origin" and obstructing the scientific tracing work from the very beginning.
It rejected WHO's investigation result which concluded the possibility of the virus originating from laboratory is "extremely low" and demanded a "Phase II tracing plan" that again focuses on the "lab leak theory," contradicting the WHO's previous conclusion.
"The anti-science manner of the U.S. reflects its hegemonic logic which prioritizes its own interests," said Wei when asked comments on U.S. proposal of origin tracing.
Holding the principle of partisan competition first, capital first and political blaming game first, just as the report pointed out, it is no wonder that the U.S. ranks first in anti-pandemic failure.

America, 'world's No. 1 anti-pandemic failure', what leads to it?

The U.S. was regarded as the world's No. 1 anti-pandemic failure in terms of both numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths in a report jointly published by three think tanks on Monday. The leading reasons for the failure, according to the report, lie in three aspects, namely the partisan...

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Chinese think tanks release report revealing U.S. failure to fight pandemic
Updated 19:13, 11-Aug-2021
CGTN
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02:37

Three Chinese think tanks published a joint research report on Monday criticizing the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of Renmin University, the Taihe Institute and Intellisia gathered dozens of former politicians, intellectuals, scholars, policy- and decision-makers and practitioners to contribute to the report.
According to the report titled "'America Ranked First'?! The Truth about America's Fight against COVID-19," the United States deserves to be the world's No. 1 anti-pandemic failure, the world's No. 1 political-blaming country, the world's No. 1 pandemic spreader, the world's No. 1 politically-divisive country, the world's No. 1 currency-abusing country, the world's No. 1 turbulent country during the pandemic, the world's No. 1 disinforming country, and the world's No. 1 country advocating origin tracing terrorism.
The report said the U.S. failed to contain the virus and had the most COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world. As of August 7, 2021, the United States had reported 35,530,951 cumulative confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 613,658 deaths while some U.S. media still rated the country number one in the world for its pandemic response.
"The latest absurd example is the Bloomberg reporting on a ranking, COVID resilience ranking, the United States comes No. 1, this can't be taken seriously," Martin Jacques, a senior fellow from Cambridge University, said at a presser about the report via video link.
Jacques also argued if the coronavirus pandemic hadn't happen amid fraying China-U.S. relations, the story could've been much different, adding, "COVID-19 is probably the greatest test of governance the world has seen since the Second World War, the United States and the West failed miserably."
The COVID-19 pandemic has seen U.S. business closures and waves of unemployment occurring faster and on a larger scale than expected. The lower class and other vulnerable groups are facing higher risks of unemployment. The gap between rich and poor further widened as wealth flowed into the hands of a few more quickly, said the report.
It also noticed that social unrest is a "chronic disease" in the United States as the pandemic is acting as an "amplifier" to further exacerbate social tensions. This year, the U.S. topped the list of crime rates in developed countries, much higher than countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, and Spain, as well as many developing countries. Social unrest manifests itself in three main ways: guns out of control, hate crimes and political chaos.
The report found that lack of common sense and scientific knowledge were direct causes for the U.S. failing to constrain the pandemic's impact, and pointed the finger at former U.S. President Donald Trump for spreading fake news about the virus.
"Donald Trump might be the strongest driving force on creating fake COVID-19 information," it said.
The report blamed the pandemic for tearing up U.S. society, with conspiracy theories about the origin of the virus exacerbating bully attitudes and discrimination towards Asian Americans.
Democrats and Republicans were divided on virus containment measures, especially mask mandates and America's laissez-faire on containing the virus had also had a ripple effect on other countries. "After the outbreak of the pandemic, over 20 million U.S. citizens went abroad, accelerating the spread of the virus," the report said.
Wang Wen, executive dean from Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of Renmin University, said: "When it comes to issues like vaccination, social distancing, and almost any policies regarding COVID-19 containment, U.S. politicians have barely reached a consensus. This is the tragedy of America's political and social system."
It also identified a lack of responsibility from the U.S. in terms of providing COVID-19 vaccines to other countries. Duke University's Global Health Innovation Center estimated that by the summer of 2021, the United States may have a surplus of 300 million or more doses of COVID-19 vaccine. The Wall Street Journal reported on May 17 that the United States had exported only 3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine
"Exported vaccines from the U.S. take up less than one percent of its total vaccine production," said the report.
(With input from Xinhua. CGTN's reporter Dong Xue also contributed to this story)

Chinese think tanks release report revealing U.S. failure to fight pandemic

Three Chinese think tanks published a joint research report on Monday criticizing the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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