2020: COVID-19. 2022: Monkeypox. Has the U.S. Healthcare System Failed Again?
By William Huang
When the World Health Organization (WHO) first called COVID-19 a pandemic in March of 2020, few knew what was in store for them for the next two years. This new virus was highly transmissible, could spread through the air, and seemed to have the capability to affect people of all ages. However, given this knowledge and the U.S.’s cutting-edge medical technologies, why did the U.S. fare much worse than other countries?
It began with the highest authority. During the beginning crucial stages of the pandemic, President Trump stated that it was no worse than the flu, and that the pandemic would be over by Easter. Furthermore, the CDC and top health experts were censored in what could be said, hindering their ability to communicate important information to the public.
Another devastating cause was the sluggish response in providing rapid testing. Rather than using a German developed test recommended by the World Health Organization, the CDC chose to create their own, a decision that caused infections to silently spread through the population. In addition, the Food and Drug Administration was slow to approve drugs. By the time testing became available, the spread in communities was rampant, making it difficult to do contact tracing and isolate people.
Two years later, as a new disease begins to increasingly appear on our television screens, it terrifies me to see a parallel response, leaving me to wonder how effective the U.S. is in handling pandemics. In comparison to other diseases, monkeypox should have been relatively easy to end. The virus spreads through intimate contact, and tests and vaccines were available prior to the arrival. Although cases were reported in May, tests will not become available until later this month.
Even as cases continue to grow, the public health system in the United States remains a crippled bureaucracy, seemingly unable to provide a unified and swift response to a pandemic. Like the coronavirus, contact tracing has not been effective. According to the New York Times, “local health departments trace contacts only after a confirmed diagnosis, allowing the chain of transmission to continue in the meantime”. The C.D.C. should have made testing rapidly available to glean the extent of the outbreak early on.
Recently, a senior Biden administration official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters, acknowledging that implementation of monkeypox testing had not been as convenient nor fast as it needed to be.
Although negotiations between government officials and labs began in the third week of May, soon after the first cases were identified, he said. But it took time to settle contracts, scale up test supplies and train personnel to handle the virus.
If monkeypox can’t be contained, it may become a permanent threat, especially among men who have sex with men. The National Coalition of STD Directors has called for a minimum of $30 million to strengthen sexual health clinics during the outbreak, as victims with rashes in the genitalia area tend to go to these clinics for privacy.
Citations
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/08/health/monkeypox-vaccine-treatment.html
