{"id":91474,"date":"2020-12-28T07:26:16","date_gmt":"2020-12-28T12:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/?p=91474"},"modified":"2020-12-28T07:26:16","modified_gmt":"2020-12-28T12:26:16","slug":"auto-draft-397","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2020\/12\/28\/auto-draft-397\/","title":{"rendered":"2020 – Year of the Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"VOA \u2014 On the penultimate day of 2019, health authorities in Wuhan, China, issued an urgent notice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hospitals in the city had seen several patients with a “pneumonia of unknown cause.” Medical institutions should step up their emergency plans, the notice said.<\/p>\n

A year later, more than 1.6 million people are dead from COVID-19.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The United States has nearly one-fifth of them but just 4% of the world’s population.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before the pandemic, experts ranked<\/a> the United States as the country best prepared to deal with an outbreak.<\/p>\n

“We were wrong,” said Lawrence Gostin,\u00a0director\u00a0of the\u00a0O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, part of the team that created the\u00a0ranking.<\/p>\n

A series of failures has made the United States among the world leaders in rates of new cases and deaths per capita.<\/p>\n

Here is a look back at some of the key moments when things went wrong this year.<\/p>\n

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\"Valerie<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>
Valerie Dominguez, whose results came back negative, is tested for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas, Dec. 9, 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

February 5: CDC ships faulty tests <\/strong><\/p>\n

The first tool\u00a0that\u00a0doctors need to control any outbreak is an adequate supply of accurate tests to determine who is infected.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On this, the United States failed early and often.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Rather than rely on tests that were already proven, like tests from (the World Health Organization), which were being made available to the U.S.,” Gostin said, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “decided that it was going to produce its own test. That test turned out to be a faulty test.”<\/p>\n

A manufacturing problem with one of the ingredients rendered the tests inaccurate. Regulations barred hospital and university labs from producing their own tests until March 3, when the Trump administration lifted the restrictions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vice President Mike Pence promised that millions of tests were on their way in the second week of March. But supply shortages, backlogs and long waits for results lasted for months and still are not completely resolved.<\/p>\n

That let the virus get out of hand.<\/p>\n

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\"U.S.<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>
U.S. President Donald Trump poses on the Truman Balcony of the White House after returning from being hospitalized at Walter Reed Medical Center for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) treatment, in Washington, Oct. 5, 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

April 3: Trump devalues masks <\/strong><\/p>\n

By undermining health officials and encouraging people to disregard their advice, President Donald Trump has helped the virus to spread, experts say.<\/p>\n

“This wasn’t an administration that was used to dealing with experts,” said University of Michigan medical historian Howard Markel. Trump “not only didn’t appreciate them,\u00a0[he]\u00a0didn’t even respect them.”<\/p>\n

For example, when\u00a0the\u00a0CDC first recommended\u00a0on April 3\u00a0that people wear cloth masks in public,\u00a0Trump read the announcement from the White House press room podium, then undercut it in the next breath.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This is voluntary. I don’t think I’m going to be doing it,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump contradicted National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci on whether the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine could treat COVID-19. Trump repeatedly backed the drug before conclusive studies were done. Fauci was skeptical. Studies would later show<\/a> it did\u00a0not work.<\/p>\n

The president at one point also advocated injecting disinfectants or shining ultraviolet light inside the body.<\/p>\n

“Politicians don’t have prescription pads for good reason,” Markel said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>
A protester carries a sign during a rally against Michigan\u2019s coronavirus stay-at-home order at the State Capitol in Lansing, Mich., May 14, 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

April 17: LIBERATE MICHIGAN! <\/strong><\/p>\n

In politically polarized America during the 2020 election year, even a deadly pandemic became partisan.<\/p>\n

When out-of-control outbreaks forced communities into lockdown, politics muddled the difficult balance between protecting health and the economy.<\/p>\n

Trump and Republicans mostly sided with the economy. Trump supported protests against coronavirus restrictions in several states.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As armed demonstrators stood on the capitol steps in Lansing, Michigan,\u00a0on April 17, Trump tweeted, “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n