U.S. politicians guilty of COVID-19 inaction

Medical staff wearing personal protective equipment as they treat a patient infected with the COVID-19 disease at the St. Janos Hospital of Budapest, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, April 29, 2020. /AFP

**Editor's note: **The following article is taken from the Chinese-language opinion column "The Real Point."

"The United States of America wasted the whole of February and early March before they acted. That is the human tragedy of COVID-19," said Richard Horton, the editor-in-chief of the prestigious medical journal The Lancet during an interview with China Media Group on Friday.

His comments pointed out the fact that certain U.S. politicians have conspired with media organizations to shift blame onto China, with some even making groundless demands for compensation. Looking back at the U.S. response to the pandemic, anybody with a clear conscience can see that the rapid spread of COVID-19 was the result of political incompetence and poor decisions.

First, the virus knows no boundaries. We are in the fight together, yet the missteps taken by U.S. policymakers and their subsequent attempts to politicize the pandemic have led to surges in confirmed infections and deaths, as well as putting immense pressure on global prevention and control efforts.

The Trump administration ignored early warnings from China and the World Health Organization, regarding the pandemic as a hoax and the flu, while also trying to silence the doctors who first issued alerts. At the same time, Republicans and Democrats were entangled in an impeachment battle and paid no attention to the unfolding coronavirus situation, sitting idly by for 70 days.

Contamination in the laboratories of the U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control also delayed the virus-testing process, which contributed to its faster spread. The sluggish response from the U.S. government partially led to it becoming one of the main sources of COVID-19 cases.

Second, U.S. policymakers insisted on the "America First" policy and used the pandemic as an excuse for its other affairs. This increased the risk of the virus spreading globally and made the control and prevention work even harder.

Under the guise of pandemic prevention, the United States clamped down even harder on illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central American countries. Due to the strict travel restrictions and continuing deportations, this move makes the COVID-19 situation worsened across Latin America and may result in crushing their vulnerable public health systems. Over 60 research institutes in the U.S. released a joint statement accusing the American government of jeopardizing the whole world.

Meanwhile, as global demand for medical supplies grew, the American side robbed countries of their supplies and sabotaged global cooperation. The U.S. media criticized the piracy, saying it exposed the flaws of the "America First" policy.

Third, disappointingly after the U.S. became the global pandemic epicenter, politicians spent time and energy seeking scapegoats instead of adjusting policies to save lives.

Furthermore, the U.S. decided to defund the WHO, which was akin to rubbing salt in the wound as the world reached a juncture in its coronavirus battle. Depriving the WHO of funding will further limit the UN agency's ability to assist developing countries, which in turn threatens the world's public health safety. The Science magazine wrote that this myopic decision will be disastrous.

Too many facts have proven that if someone must be blamed for the pandemic, it should be the unscrupulous U.S. politicians. Faced with the world’s most challenging crisis since World War II, they waived the most powerful weapons of unity and cooperation, choosing instead to head down a path that will end in global disdain and see them judged harshly by history.

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