What has the USA learned from the corona pandemic? A US investigation report now provides answers to this. The historian Zelikow, who already chaired the commission on the September 11 attacks, was in charge.
The title of the investigation report is already provocative: “Lessons from the Covid war”. War? Yes, according to Philip Zelikow, the word war is justified, if only because of the more than 1.1 million deaths in the USA alone.
It was the world’s costliest crisis since World War II, says the historian. His conclusion on radio station NPR: “We had the best science. We were willing to spend the most money. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was knowing what to do. And being willing to do it.”
This means that the USA, as the richest country in the world, did not have the knowledge of how to deal effectively with a pandemic and did not have the ability to make decisions quickly enough and implement them effectively.
Too late and too hesitant to act
According to Zelikow, the biggest mistakes at the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020 were: warning too late, not providing money for emergency programs in time and being too hesitant to develop a Covid testing program. “As soon as a pandemic breaks out, every minute counts,” emphasizes the historian.
In the center he sees the schools. If no effective intervention is made early on in the schools, a virus will spread in no time at all in families, in towns and communities, in old people’s homes. It has to be decided quickly and then communicated clearly and consistently.
According to Zelikow, this applies to all decisions and recommendations, including testing or vaccination: “The communication was terrible,” says Zelikow and laughs bitterly. He avoids naming names, but it is clear who was primarily responsible for long stretches of the pandemic: President Donald Trump.
Federalism as part of the problem
There is also a structural problem: federalism – which is even more pronounced in the USA than in Germany. 50 federal states have their own competences, especially in health policy, as well as districts, cities, municipalities and private providers. The political structures of the US, shaped in the 19th century, are completely unsuitable for the 21st century, says the report.
The current division in the country exacerbated this. The questions: testing, vaccination, wearing a mask – yes or no – became part of the culture war between Republicans and Democrats.
“This virus didn’t care if you were Republican or Democrat, if you were old or young. It came at you,” emphasizes the co-author of the investigation report, epidemiologist Michael Osterholm on CNN television.
Central pandemic officer required
“One of the many recommendations of the study is to create the post of a central pandemic officer who is above all the authorities involved. A ‘Dr. Fauci plus”.
Anthony Fauci was an advisor, first to Trump, then to President Joe Biden. He had hardly any decision-making authority. Fauci also spoke to CNN from retirement with a Corona conclusion: “We didn’t cope as well as it could have. And we have to do better in the future.”
In Fauci’s words, the Covid pandemic is by no means completely over. “We still have about 150 deaths a day in the United States,” he emphasizes.
On the question of whether there will be a next, different virus, whether there will be a next pandemic, the investigation report also says: the question is not if, but when.