Should the Chinese government be held responsible for coronavirus?

I had multiple potential titles in mind for this: “Coronavirus brings the world to a stand-still,” United States of canceled,” and “We’re doomed, nice knowing you.” But I decided it doesn’t matter what the title is. You know what this is going to be about, how could it not be?

While those of us in America prepare to hunker down for the next four to six weeks, I began thinking about all the factors that led us to this point in time.

According, (to sources that will not be cited because it’s the internet and you can type just as easily as me to find out) the Chinese government knew long before this point that the Wuhan coronavirus, a.k.a. COVID-19 existed. But despite this, it didn’t seem to take any action against it. And because of this negligence, the virus has now spread all over the globe and has already killed thousands. Why didn’t it make any effort to control or contain the virus until it was too late?

Hypothetically, even though the consensus is that it didn’t, if COVID-19 was a lab experiment designed to ruin our economy and kill millions all over the world, why does the Chinese government seem to have no regard for its citizens?

Or these open-air meat markets in China where the virus is actually believed to have originated from, why does the Chinese government allow such hazardous and unsanitary conditions?

This also raises other questions:

1. What about China’s neighboring countries like Japan and South Korea that have also been heavily impacted, are those governments going to hold China responsible?
2. What about China’s allies? Russia for example, despite its vastness also has many cases of the virus now.
3. What about the United States? Why are we so unacceptably unprepared for this? And so careless?

So what’s happening here? We know, or rather, the medical and scientific communities know that coronaviruses exist. The common cold is a coronavirus. So is bronchitis and pneumonia. And of course, SARS comes to mind.

Now we don’t necessarily have fool-proof vaccines for these, but they are for the most part treatable and can be easily recovered from. But this new one seems to have a vendetta to settle with much of the human population. Some might argue that this is Mother Nature’s way of getting even.

So here’s where I’ll address the third question I posed above. Why is the United States so unprepared to deal with this kind of outbreak? As of now, the U.S. government is considering the possibility of shutting down nearly 90% of businesses in an effort to keep people home and slow the spread. It says this would be for the purpose of allowing the medical centers to catch up and have enough supplies to deal with future cases.

The fear is that if too many people become infected at the same time that the hospitals will not be able to deal with the influx of patients. This could obviously have disastrous consequences. The estimated death toll by experts is in the high six figures in the worst-case scenario.

Why are we even in this scenario? If you spend any amount of time watching White House press conferences or news stations, they spend a lot of time talking about how the risk to America is low, and that we are very prepared. But then the real experts speak up and the true numbers are revealed.

If we are supposed to be the greatest, richest country on Earth, then why don’t we already have a treatment plan or even a vaccine for this type of virus? We have the CDC which is designed specifically for this. It is supposed to have state-of-the-art labs for testing diseases and viruses and developing effective vaccines, treatments, and medications. Even they seem completely at a loss in this situation.

Why didn’t we have a plan for this scenario years ago? Why weren’t we dumping an insane amount of money into research and testing programs beforehand? Why did they wait until now, when the potential for death is imminent?

I think I speak for many frustrated people not just in the United States, but across the world. Why weren’t our governments prepared for this? The only thing it seems to be prepared for now is to let thousands of its own citizens suffer and maybe die.

It is terrifying and sickening to think about. And even though I’m just as scared and anxious as the next guy, I’m also incredibly angry with my government. As if we didn’t have enough to hate them for already. But what I hope is that this finally, truly opens some people’s eyes and makes them really consider the people that they vote for, and the policies they support, and where they get their information. Because I know there will a group of morons who refuse to take precautions and will go out and probably get infected. Thus, ensuring the spread of this virus.

I don’t know how this is going to turn out. But I have a keyboard and some ideas. I recommend listening to or watching the episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast where he interviews Michael Osterholm. I’ll be honest, it will scare you. But people I think need real information right now, what little there is of it.

According to the Google profile, “Michael Osterholm is an American public-health scientist and biosecurity and infectious disease expert.”

After this blows over and we all emerge from our COVID-19 bunkers, I hope to see governments intelligently questioned and really put over the coals about this. As a species that (I think) wants to survive, we cannot allow things like this to happen.

So to my fellow human beings, please stay safe. Don’t trample each other for supplies. Wash your hands! And I’ll see you on the other side.