‘From Italy to Britain and the US, governments have prevaricated lethally in sight of the oncoming coronavirus.
The puzzle is why the next in line do not learn from their predecessors’ mistakes. On Wednesday Florida, Mississippi and Georgia became the latest US states to declare stay-at-home orders that should have been imposed weeks ago.
Florida’s infection rate is way higher than Australia’s. Georgia overtook Japan 10 days ago. Texas only took the plunge on Tuesday. Even then, the stay-at-home order was riddled with holes. Greg Abbott, the Texas governor, insisted on including churches in its list of “essential services”. One thing every pathogen loves is a congregation.
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The mystery is why. Partly it is economic dread. Florida draws much of its revenue from tourism and retirees. Ron DeSantis, the governor, kept the beaches open for tens of thousands of college students to converge on the US south-eastern state for last month’s spring break.
Disney World, which is in the centre of Florida, also stayed open. At its reluctant closing, employees gathered closely for a photo, prompting Abigail Disney, a family heir, to tweet: “Are you friend*ing kidding me?”
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That same miscalculation applies to the White House on a far larger scale. Donald Trump wasted weeks dismissing the virus in the vain hope of talking up the stock market. As a result, the US has now been forced to take far more economically damaging measures to contain it.
Coronaviral denialism knows no partisan boundaries. Neither Ohio’s Mike DeWine nor Maryland’s Larry Hogan — both Republican governors — waited for Mr Trump before taking strong measures.
Bill de Blasio, the Democratic mayor of New York City, which has accounted for by far the highest number of America’s coronavirus deaths, was at least as complacent as Mr Trump. He had to be forced to close the city’s St Patrick’s day parade last month. New York’s schools only closed after several other cities, including San Francisco, had already done so. The time Mr Trump and Mr de Blasio squandered can be measured in lives.
The tragedy will probably roll from America’s coasts into its heartlands. Twelve states, including Oklahoma, Alabama and South Carolina, have yet to issue shelter-in-place orders. The longer they wait, the worse the toll. After economic dread, the biggest explanation for hesitation is incompetence...’
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