QUESTIONS: America behind COVID curve

Of late, during my Coeur d’Alene seniors’ coffee clutch reunions, questions primarily discussed include: “Why is America months behind the rest of the world at combating this deadly contagion and why is America’s COVID-19 mortality more than 20% of the world’s total when our population is only 4% of the entire planet?”

Correspondingly, why are 95% of the 210,000 deaths honorably retired senior Americans when there are amazingly effective therapies available as witnessed by the recent miraculous treatment of our senior citizen president?

As well many are questioning why we waited until Feb. 26 to establish the Vice President’s COVID task force when the first case in America was reported on Jan. 21? Also, why after China’s President Xi JinPing personally notified CDC Director Robert Redfield on Jan. 7 of the titanic scope of the pandemic didn’t we initiate an immediate course of action comparable to the National Security Council’s proven Pandemic Playbook?

Also, my fellow elders ascertained that because of business-as-usual bureaucracies, America didn’t initiate testing until well into April and only executed large scale testing and contact tracing many months later. Unlike South Korea, Germany, Iceland, China and several other countries that began in January to follow the science and immediately contain the virus utilizing methodical testing, prolific tracking, quarantining and what proved to be most effective at restarting their economies, judiciously enforcing mask mandates.

It is time for our privileged lawmakers on all levels of government to cease their precarious rivalries of partisan politics and personal self-interests. It’s imperative they join forces to defeat this virus scientifically and economically. Others are; so can the greatest country in the world. Be safe and well.

JULIUS PEKAR

Coeur d’Alene