President Trump’s taped conversations with Bob Woodward revealed that he (Trump) understood in February 2020 the dangers of coronavirus infection and its high transmissibility by air route. He knew all this, yet he planned to play down the danger to the nation to avoid panic. Had he thought about someone other than himself, he could have implemented the procedures recommended by the scientific community, and we could have had far fewer cases and fatalities. The number of people that might have been saved can be calculated by comparing the death rate in the U.S. with rates in other countries. The U.S. had 191,880 deaths by Sept. 9. Compared to France’s death rate, we could have saved 39,852 individuals; compared to Canada’s better results we would have saved 109,693; Germany, 154,710; Denmark,156,033; Australia, 181,559 saved.

Our relatively poor performance could be affected by variables like population age, characteristics of the healthcare system, and demographics, but the overwhelming influence was failure to act early, lack of a nationwide plan, and unconscionably poor leadership by Trump. He had all the facts he needed, but simply did not care if people died needlessly while being unable to breathe and suffering multi-organ failure. Sad.

Data used from Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center report (https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality). Figures are updated to September 9, 2020.

Bruce Dasinger

East Lyme