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The number of cases of persons infected by the corornavirus in the US continues to increase and has passed 200,000. At the moment, the number of  deaths from covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, is over 4,700. At Tuesday’s briefing, the President and the physicians on his pandemic response team presented a dire outlook based on various statistical models, and included a projection of between 100,000 and 240,000 fatalities as the virus sweeps across the country. Given that there has not been wide-spread testing, these models are based on incomplete data and are adjusted as more cases are verified. As New York governor Andrew Cuomo put it, “The virus has been ahead of us from the beginning”.

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Among the more interesting news items of the last two weeks:

• The departing NSC team of the Obama administration presented the incoming Trump team with a 69-page plan for dealing with a possible pandemic. The document was ignored.
• In early February, as Trump was downplaying the threat of the coronavirus, the US shipped nearly 18 tons of medical supplies (masks, gowns, gauze, respirators, and other vital materials) to China.
• Beginning with an initiative by the Department of Health and Human Services  during the Bush administration, the Federal government pursued the development and manufacture of a less-expensive, portable, and easy-to-use ventilator. A contract was ultimately signed during the Obama administration with Newport Medical Instruments, a small California company owned by a Japanese manufacturer. Development proceeded to the point that Newport anticipated applying for market approval in mid-2013. But in mid-2012, Newport was acquired by a much larger medical device manufacturer, Covidien, a company that sold the more expensive ventilators the government sought to replace. By 2014, Covidien requested that the government release it from the contract, citing lack of profitability. 
• Upon signing the $2.2 trillion dollar coronavirus aid bill, Trump issued a statement in which he took issue with the ability of the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Response, an office created by the bill, to report to the Congress “without delay” any refusal of Executive Branch agencies to provide information requested as part of the SIGPR’s oversight and audit responsibilities. The White House asserts that such reports can only be made with “presidential supervision”.
• From The Hill, Thursday, March 26: “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a sweeping suspension of its enforcement of environmental laws Thursday, telling companies they would not need to meet environmental standards during the coronavirus outbreak.” The Trump administration is following Rahm Emanuel’s advice to “never let a serious crisis go to waste”. The administration is in full accord; to paraphrase the Mexican bandit  in “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”- “Regulations? We don’t need no stinkin’ regulations!”
• As the coronavirus revs itself up to full-pandemic speed, more scrutiny is being given to the six week period from the end of January into March that the administration made no substantive moves to prepare for the coming onslaught. Faced with a collapsing stock market, Trump kept minimizing the threat the virus presented even as he was warned of the danger by health officials, the intelligence agencies, and members of his staff. When the history of this period is written, it will go down as the most significant failure of government in our history. A valid argument can be made that the lack of decisive action in early February condemned tens of thousands of people to unnecessary deaths.

Mitch McConnell has tried to spin Trump’s poor handling of the crisis as the effect of the impeachment being a distraction. Facts are that Trump held eight campaign rallies in January and February, including four after the Senate trial ended on February 5th. He also found time to get six rounds of golf in before declaring a national emergency on March 13th. He was made aware of the potential threat in early January.

It is tough to steer the ship of state away from the rocks when the captain doesn't give a damn.