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Anti-Science Attitudes are Killing Americans
Commentary: The lack of a federal response to Covid-19 is ignorant and inexcusable, and that needs to be said
Were it at all funny, America would be the laughingstock of the world for its anemic response to the deadliest pandemic in 101 years. Instead, political leaders and scientists around the world must be just shaking their heads in dismay and disbelief at the anti-science attitude of the White House, its abdication of responsibility in the face of a national crisis, and the unwillingness even of many state governors to put a lid on the surge of new Covid-19 cases and the inevitable rise in deaths to follow.
Health experts here in American are certainly fed up.
“Trump has gone from ‘hoax’ in February to ‘it’s dying out’ in June,” says Andy Slavitt, former Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “It was malpractice to leave us unprepared once. It is almost a war crime to do it twice.”
Across the European Union, which has 36% more people than the United States and had no shortage of Covid-19 outbreaks to deal with, the pace of daily new cases has been reduced from around 30,000 in late March to 4,000 today. The United States saw almost the exact same peak just a few days after Europe…