U.S. trapped in “dark Covid hole” with no plan to get out – Media

American Medical personnel secure a sample from a person at a drive-thru COVID-19 testing station at a Kaiser Permanente facility in San Francisco in March (PHOTO/File).

WASHINGTON — The United States is trapped in “a dark Covid hole” with “no plan to get out,” the CNN said in a recent in-depth analysis.

“There are only contradictions, obfuscations and confusion from the federal officials who ought to be charting a national course,” said the analysis published Friday, citing “leadership vacuum” as the reason behind U.S. failure in epidemic control.

It lamented the absence of “the massive integrated testing and tracing effort that could highlight and isolate infection epicenters,” while blasting the White House’s attempt to prematurely reopen schools, about which there were conflicting messages even within the administration.

The analysis came at a time when the United States refreshes its record of daily new cases almost every day, with its death curve also beginning to trend up.

Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University showed that confirmed cases in the United States had topped 3,243,000 as of Saturday evening, with the death toll surpassing 134,700.

According to Bloomberg News, Saturday saw a staggering rise of 71,389 daily new cases across the country.

“Months into the worst domestic crisis since World War II, there is no sense that a fractured country is pulling together to confront a common enemy. People are still arguing about wearing masks — a tiny infringement of personal freedoms that represents one of the few hopes of easing the contagion,” read the analysis.

Anti-epidemic measures proven effective both in early U.S. hotspots and elsewhere around the world, such as early shutdowns, social distancing, wearing masks and prudent opening plans, do not seem to be appealing to the federal government, it said.

“There is no sign that such competence will soon arrive in the U.S. The administration, which has offloaded responsibility for fighting the virus to states, doesn’t appear to have the desire or capacity to build any such system,” it said, raising President Donald Trump’s repetitive attempts to paint a rosy picture of the pandemic with false claims as examples.

Noting that the U.S. anti-epidemic effort “represents nothing less than a political debacle,” it said “belated attempts to halt the virus in southern and western states are being hampered by feuds between Democratic mayors who want mask mandates and Republican governors handcuffed by ideology.”