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Why America is a failed state in the war against COVID-19?
美国缘何成为抗疫失败的国家
As of July 24th, the US has confirmed more than 4 million COVID-19 cases. That means one out of every hundred Americans has tested positive. Its death toll now tops 140,000, accounting for a fifth of the world's total, more than its total from the First World War.
7月24日，美国新冠肺炎确诊病例已突破400万例，这意味着大约每100个美国人就有一人确诊；其死亡病例已超过14万例，占到了全球总死亡病例的大约1/5，已经超过了美国在一战中的总阵亡人数。
The rising numbers could just be the tip of the iceberg. Experts have often warned infections could be around ten times higher than what is reported, as many still go untraced. While most European countries have flattened the outbreak curve, the US also flattened the curve, but in a different way.
而不断上升的数字可能只是其严峻疫情冰山一角。专家们警告，美国的实际感染人数可能是其公开数字的十倍，因为很多人都未被检测。当大多数欧洲国家的疫情曲线逐渐平缓，美国也以一种不同的方式拉平了这条曲线。
Behind all these rising numbers lies a question worth exploring: Why did America lose the war on COVID-19? Four letters SICC.
在这些不断上升的数字背后，有一个问题值得探讨：美国为什么会在抗击新冠肺炎的战争中败下阵来？我们用SICC四个字母总结出四点原因。
Let's start with the first C -- contempt of science. Although it is absurd, Americans are still debating about the validity of mask wearing. Some in the US don't take social distance seriously. This contempt or neglect of science or however you want to put it seemss to be the symptom of American individualism, the national culture that values freedom more than anything, even their health. And don't forget the series of astonishing instructions coming directly from the White House.
让我们首先从第一个C开始——蔑视科学。尽管听上去很荒谬，但美国人还在争论戴口罩是否有效，也有些人不把保持社交距离当回事。这种对科学的蔑视，或者说轻视，或者其他的什么说法，似乎是美国个人主义带来的症状，是将自由凌驾于一切之上的国家文化，甚至包括生命健康。别忘了白宫给出的一系列令人震惊的抗疫指导。
I means insufficient leadership. When faced with catastrophes, people often expect someone to stand up and show a clear way out of the predicament. However, in the process of responding to COVID-19, US leadership seems to be doing the opposite. It has replaced it with repeated misinformation, ontinuously blaming others and making political calculations for the election.
I代表领导力不足。当面对灾难时，人们常常期望有人可以站出来，引领大家摆脱困境。然而，在应对新冠疫情的过程中，美国的领导层似乎恰恰相反。取而代之的是，美国领导层反复传播的虚假消息，不断地甩锅，以及为选举而进行的政治算计。
The second C stands for cleavage of society. Any attempt to contain COVID-19 in the US will have to address this potential spread in low income communities of color to protect the lives of people in those communities. But official data indicates African Americans are disproportionately targeted. As of July 8th, among all the death of COVID-19, 23 percent of them were African Americans. However, African Americans only make up 13.4 percent of the US population. In some areas of the country, the disparity has been even more striking. In April, reports from Chicago's said African Americans made up 72 percent of people dying from COVID-19, although they only compose a third of the population there.
第二个C代表社会分化。在美国，要想遏制新冠疫情，就必须着力解决疫情在低收入的有色人种社区中的潜在传播问题，以保护这些社区居民的生命安全。但官方发布的数据显示，非裔美国人确诊的比例非常高。截至7月8日，在所有新冠肺炎死亡病例中，非裔美国人占到了23%。与此同时，非裔美国人却仅占美国人口的13.4%。在美国部分地区，这种差距更加明显。4月份有报道称，尽管非裔美国人仅占芝加哥人口的1/3，但在新冠肺炎的死亡病例中，非裔美国人却占到了72%。
To make things worse, “Black Lives Matter” protests have spread across america since the end of May. As of July 3rd, protests have occurred in over 40 percent of the counties, with more than 15 million people participating, which make these demonstrations one of the largest in the US history. Many protesters did not wear masks properly, and social distancing could not possibly have been carried out. These made flattening the curve a mission impossible.
更糟的是，至5月底以来，以“黑人的命也重要”的抗议活动在美国各地蔓延。截至7月3日，超过40%的县发生过抗议活动，超过1500万人参与其中，这也成就其为美国史上规模最大的示威活动之一。许多抗议者并没有正确佩戴口罩，而且保持社交距离更不可能在抗疫期间执行，这使得拉平确诊病例曲线变成了不可能完成的任务。
S stands for system flaws. America's failed response to COVID-19 is largely a failure of its own system. First, the political decentralization system in the United States has become a burden in epidemic prevention. On one hand, the federal government and the states compete for medical supplies such as masks and ventilators in the market. On the other hand, buck-passing and throw it over the wall against the like to play.
S代表体制缺陷。美国的抗疫失败很大程度上是国家体制的失败。首先，美国政治上的去中心化成为了防疫的负担。联邦政府与州政府在争夺口罩和呼吸机等医疗物资的同时，也互相甩锅和踢皮球。
Second, over the past few decades, Republicans and Democrats have become increasingly geographically divided. Democrats tend to do best in the nation's urban areas, while Republicans find their strongest support in more rural areas. However, in the US Congress every state gets the same two Senators, regardless of their population size. This Senate map had particularly negative consequences over the past several months because COVID-19 hits America’s urban population centers first and hardest. In early March, for example, as the virus was spreading, the first 15 US states to report cases accounted for 56 percent of America's population, but only 30 percent of America's senators. This explains why the Senate was initially slow to act.
其次，过去几十年间，美国两党在地理上愈发割裂。民主党选民主要集中在城市，而共和党获得的支持更多来自农村。然而，在美国参议院每个州均会产生两名国会参议员，各州无论人数多少，参议员如此分布带来了负面后果，这在过去几个月里尤为明显，因为新冠疫情在美国爆发后，大城市首当其冲，受影响也最为严重，比如3月初。当病毒还在传播时，最早报告病例的15个州占据了美国总人口的56%。而这些州的参议员人数仅为全美的30%，这就解释了参议院为何在疫情初期反应迟缓。
Finally, the power of corporations has been translated into political power with disastrous effects to people's lives. The total money spent on lobbying congress and federal agencies rose from 1.45 US dollars in 1998 to 3.47 billion US dollars in 2019, giving cooperations growing cloud with policymakers. It is hardly shocking that business groups were able to convince the Trump administration to delay and scale back the use of Defence Production Act.
最后，美国企业的力量已经转化为政治权利。这对美国人民生活造成的影响是灾难性的。用于游说国会和联邦机构的资金总额，从1998年的14.5亿美元，上升到了2019年的34.7亿美元。随之而来的是企业对决策者影响力的日益增强。因此，就算商业团体说服了特朗普政府延缓动用《国防生产法》并缩减抗疫物资的生产规模，也丝毫不足为奇。
It is a tragedy that the US government has lost the war against COVID-19 and the American people are suffering because of it.
美国政府的抗疫失败是一场真正的悲剧，美国人民正因此而遭殃。 |
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发表于 2020-8-12 10:03:15
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发表于 2020-8-12 16:45:18
