Going viral 1 - How did we get into this mess?

Two months ago the Corona virus was not the recurring breaking news or the given subject of lunch talks at work. Today we are in the midst of the Covid19 epidemic, or rather pandemic as it was designated yesterday by the World Health Organisation. We don’t know yet how this will play out, if there will be a reduction of infections come spring in the northern hemisphere or if this virus will continue to wreak havoc for many months ahead. Even countries and regions with well organised health care system such at northern Italy are now reeling under the pressure of the sheer number of patients. Overworked doctors and nurses are trying to cope, trying to decide who among their many elderly patients should be put on a ventilator in order to be given a chance to recover.

The response in China was initially hailed as being forceful and effective, even if it was deemed a bit “harsh”. But it has become increasingly clear that the attempts to suppress information about the virus outbreak in the early phase had severe consequences. The response was delayed and the virus infection was not contained in Wuhan but instead allowed to spread over China. From China the Corona virus has taken multiple routes over the world and with our efficient ways of travel the virus is now criss-crossing the world. In Italy, the epidemic started with a “super-spreader” whose diagnosis was initially missed since he had no apparent contacts with China. By now, is hard to distinguish hot spots from general global spread, thus this is really a pandemic.

From a Swedish perspective just yesterday new initiative were launched attempting to slow the Covid19 tsunami. If we are lucky, we just might be able to avoid the Italian situation. But it’s not looking good for the normally so healthy and stable Nordic countries, were are in the top when it comes to cases per capita. Maybe our relative richness and ability to afford a lot of travelling this time will bring us down?

In the US, Trump has gone from neglecting and disavowing the Corona crisis, via using it as another excuse for building his wall to now trying to use EU as a scapegoat for the failures of his own administration. It’s clear that access to testing for Corona virus infection has been very low in the USA compared to other countries. This can also be largely blamed on the Trump regime due to the underlying budget cuts at the Center for Disease Control from $12.7bn in 2010 to $8bn today (all in current dollars). "You can’t have surge capacity if you’ve already been cut to the bone”.

The confusing and ignorant attitude from "President Donald Trump, who has pooh-poohed the danger of the new disease, played down case counts, and insisted that the new disease will soon taper off” has contributed to the fact the USA is still in the dark when it comes to understanding the magnitude of the disease. This is also why Trumps attempt to play statesman and calm the jittery market backfired:

Such is the reverse Midas touch of Donald Trump, that his attempt last night to face facts, steady nerves and reassure the public succeeded in spreading panic, sowing confusion and ratcheting up the anxiety.

The result? The worst day ever for global stock markets and the global economy.

So where do we go from here and what’s the link to climate change and democracy? That’s the subject of my next post!