Well, here we are, in a full-blown public-health emergency and the federal government whose job it is to provide the necessary precautions and reassurance is acting as though we are immune from any exposure.
One patient suffering from the corona virus (COVID-19) in Washington state has died.
Another in Rhode Island is confirmed to have contracted it.
And in Chicago.
Saturday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicated the official number of COVID-19 cases is likely to double almost overnight.
As of this writing, it's now in New York.
Last week a California woman was rushed to the University of California, Davis Medical Center, unable to breathe.
Yet after hospital administrators requested diagnostic testing from the CDC, they were informed the patient did not qualify under federal criteria that stipulated patients must have traveled to China or known to have been in contact with infected individuals.
To make matters worse, a top federal scientist has raised concerns about possible contamination in an Atlanta lab responsible for virus test kits.
Donald Trump has entrusted the national emergency to Vice President Mike Pence, who reinforced Donald Trump Jr.'s conspiracy theory that Democrats hope coronavirus "kills millions of people."
This is more than just a matter of an administration politicizing and woefully unprepared to handle what in normal circumstances could be calmly assuaged with policy, communication, and funding.
Consider the fact that we lack a national healthcare system.
Without one, those who contract anything potentially life threatening are more susceptible to worsening--and infecting others.
Put simply, the absence of a Medicare-for-all-type single-payer healthcare system is in itself a public-health emergency.
Let's look at a recent case in Florida.
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