Coronavirus is worldwide — why is the US so badly hit?
We are now entering the fifth month of the crisis, and the numbers in the United States are skyrocketing. The White House had hoped the economy would be back on track by this time and millions of people would be back to work. Instead, while New York simmers in its coronavirus stew, Arizona and Texas have become the new hotspots. Remember all that talk about the coronavirus dying out in the summer? It was fake news.
It’s hard to find a single explanation for why the virus is still surging in the United States while life is returning to normal across most of Asia and Europe. But there are a few factors that have contributed to the disparity: a leadership that doesn’t want to take responsibility; a citizenry unwilling to sacrifice its comforts for public safety; and a general disregard for experts and science.
One significant factor in the continued spread of the virus is the ease with which people can travel from state to state. China, for instance, suspended a third of its domestic flights at the end of January. But in the United States, most interstate flights continued on schedule. This means that even if Maryland or Virginia is fighting hard to stop the spread of the disease, someone can fly in from Indiana and bring the virus with him.
In Israel and many other countries, a 14-day quarantine is enforced the moment a traveler lands at the airport. But what happens when someone crosses the border from Pennsylvania to Ohio? Who’s waiting there to force them into quarantine? Just last week, on June 24, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York finally decided to enforce a 14-day quarantine on anyone arriving from a state with a high-infection rate. But the announcement’s cumbersome wording raises the concern that it will be difficult to enforce. According to the new regulation, anyone coming from a state where there’s a weeklong average of ten cases per 10,000 residents a day will have to enter quarantine or risk a costly fine. As of today, eight states meet those criteria, mainly in the South.
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