- While much of Europe and Asia has a good handle on the COVID-19 pandemic the United States has one of the highest risk levels in the world.
- More than twenty US states have issued orders requiring people to wear face masks in public as new coronavirus cases continue to surge.
- For some inexplicable reason COVID-19 mitigation strategy in the United States has become a partisan political issue and with it the wearing of masks in public.
The United States’ handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has become a worldwide embarrassment. The US has reported over 3.3 million positive cases of coronavirus which is by far the most of any country and nearly double second place Brazil (1.8 million). As of July 13, the United States is reporting 17.5 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people every day. On that day, the United States and Brazil reported a combined 111,319 new COVID-19 cases representing half of all new cases worldwide.
Meanwhile, most economically prosperous countries in Europe and Asia have cut their daily new cases per 100K to single digits or less. It is often said that Canada is very similar to the United States in many ways but positive coronavirus cases isn’t one of them. Canada now has 0.8 new cases of COVID-19 daily per 100,000 people. Sweden has one of the highest rates of new cases per 100K people in Europe–at 5 per day. Even economically disadvantaged countries like Bangladesh (1.9 new cases daily per 100K), Rwanda (0.2 new cases daily per 100K) and the Sudan (0.2 new cases daily per 100K) have handled the pandemic much better than the US with significantly less resources. For the first time since the 17th Century, a US citizen is unable to travel to the majority of foreign countries due to a disease outbreak.
One major problem in the United States response to the COVID-19 pandemic is even before it really began here it had become a contentious political football. Both sides share the blame in starting the politicization of a public health response to a communicable disease but that has and will continue to undermine the US response both on a national and state level. The Asian nations that were the first to deal with the pandemic quickly created the blueprint for response: widespread testing and contact tracing. Unfortunately, the FDA and other Federal bureaucracies completely bungled early stage testing and it remains a fiasco. Contact tracing is meager to nonexistent.
Instead of trying to fix these problems and mobilize an effective response politicians at every level have essentially been throwing things at the wall hoping that something sticks. The most bizarre component of the US COVID-19 response–or lack thereof–has been the ersatz politicization of the face mask. For some reason THIS is the line in the sand that many Donald Trump fanboys have chosen to fight against intrusive government mandates. Were it just the random Trumpian masses who thought they were making a ‘statement’ by refusing to take a basic step toward mitigating the pandemic it would be bad enough. What’s even worse is that many state governors are reticent to issue mask mandates for fear of suffering some sort of political retribution.
Given the choice between making a pointless political statement and trying to improve the coronavirus infection rates to somewhere above third world status many politicians and individuals have made the wrong decision. The utter stupidity of it is astounding. Nevada governor Steve Sisolak put it well when he announced a statewide mask order:
“I don’t know why or when protecting our health and our neighbors’ lives became a political, partisan or even philosophical decision. For me it’s none of those. It’s a medical necessity, a human obligation, and it’s good for business.”
The bumbling and inept response to the COVID-19 by government at all levels might have at least one upside–it might dispel any illusions that they offer a solution for any major or complex problem. Right now there are 25 states where the governor has not issued (or in many cases refused to issue) a statewide mask mandate. SPORTSINSIDER.COM has come up with the odds of each reversing course and issuing a statewide mask order. There’s an interesting development that might be a ‘game changer’ as far as this is concerned–on Saturday, President Trump wore a face mask in public for the first time after repeatedly resisting it in the past. If state governors are not issuing a mask requirement due to their fawning over Trump or his supporters they no longer have this as an excuse.
STATEWIDE GOVERNOR ISSUED FACE MASK MANDATE ODDS
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF ALABAMA ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +210 No -250
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF ALASKA ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +600 No -750
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF ARIZONA ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +180 No -210
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF ARKANSAS ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +150 No -180
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF COLORADO ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +600 No -750
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +210 No -250
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +210 No -250
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF IDAHO ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes -210 No +180
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF INDIANA ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +210 No -250
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF IOWA ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +300
No -350
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF MINNESOTA ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes -250 No +210
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF MISSOURI ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +300 No -350
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF MONTANA ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +300 No -350
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF NEBRASKA ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +300 No -350
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF NEW HAMPSHIRE ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +180 No -210
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF NORTH DAKOTA ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +300 No -350
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF OKLAHOMA ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +180 No -210
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes -150 No +130
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF SOUTH DAKOTA ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +600 No -750
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF TENNESSEE ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +300
No -350
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF UTAH ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +600
No -750
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF VERMONT ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +600 No -750
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF WISCONSIN ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +150 No -180
WILL THE GOVERNOR OF WYOMING ISSUE A STATEWIDE FACE MASK MANDATE BY AUGUST 15, 2020?
Yes +600 No -750
