Will the US become a hot spot?
Covid-19 is also confronting the US with a sad reality: there have now been more than 2,400 fatalities and over 140,000 confirmed cases. President Trump, who had talked of lifting containment measures such as social distancing before Easter, has now announced that they will be extended until April 30. But according to commentators the country is appallingly ill-equipped for such a crisis.
Damage could tear society apart
Trump wasn't the only one who reacted to the crisis too late: neither the administration nor the states have developed a strategy so far, criticises the Süddeutsche Zeitung's Washington correspondent Hubert Wetzel:
“It will cost the lives of thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people within just a few months. That will deeply traumatise society. In addition, millions of citizens will lose their livelihood. And unlike in Germany there is no social safety net to catch those who fall. Maybe it's time to read The Grapes of Wrath again, John Steinbeck's classic novel about the Great Depression. It gives you an idea of what the future might look like. ... Economic hardship and political radicalisation - these things could tear American society apart.”
Trump's policies only making everything worse
Although the United States is now the epicenter of the pandemic President Trump isn't part of the solution but part of the problem, Hospodářské noviny puts in:
“Dr. House is a fairy tale, and the undisputed success of Americans in high-end and experimental medicine says nothing about general healthcare. For US citizens, access to reliable medical care is far more complicated and expensive than it is in most European countries. And the current US government's ineptness has now underlined this.”