Incompetents
in
charge

October 8, 2020 -- Traditionally, the venerable NEJM (perhaps the world's premier healthcare mag) has stayed clear of politics. Clearly, we've reached a tipping point. This scathing editorial, Dying in a Leadership Vacuum, is eloquent on the topic of our Idiot-in-Chief: Though they don't name him, much of this failure can be laid squarely at the feet of Donald Trump: "[He has] taken a crisis and turned it into a tragedy."

How did NEJM reach this conclusion? Here are just a few of the compelling points (quoted from the editorial):

  • China [held its] death rate to a reported 3 per million, as compared with more than 500 per million in the United States... In general, ...many [countries] ...have outperformed us by orders of magnitude.

  • We had ample warning [and squandered it].

  • We continue to be way behind the curve in testing. [In] the number of tests performed per infected person [we are] below such places as Kazakhstan, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia, countries that cannot boast the biomedical infrastructure or the manufacturing capacity that we have.

  • Quarantine and isolation are sloppy or not done at all. Masks are often not worn, largely because our leaders have stated outright that masks are political tools rather than effective infection control measures.

  • The government has appropriately invested heavily in vaccine development, but its rhetoric has politicized the development process and led to growing public distrust.

  • Anyone else who recklessly squandered lives and money in this way would be suffering legal consequences... [In] the largest public health crisis of our time, our current political leaders have demonstrated that they are dangerously incompetent. We should not abet them and enable the deaths of thousands more Americans by allowing them to keep their jobs.

The editorial is a quick read and an excellent summary of our unforgiveably mishandled crisis... no, our tragedy.

Go NEJM!

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