By Finian Cunningham
August 15, 2021"Information
Clearing House" - "Sputnik"
-- The United States is facing perfect
storm conditions for the grueling continuation of
the Covid-19 pandemic. The long-term economic impact
could hasten the end of its global power as we know
it.
Infections, hospitalizations and deaths are on the
rise again – as they are in other capitalist states.
But the outlook for the U.S. is uniquely bleak.
Already, the US has the shameful title of having the
world’s biggest death toll from the novel
coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and its disease Covid-19. At
over 630,000 deaths, that represent nearly 15
percent of the world’s total. Despite a relatively
high level of vaccination (50 percent of the
population), the disease appears to be resurgent.
The problem for the United States is the dominance
of capitalist imperatives over social policy which
prevents a coherent, effective public health
strategy. The imperative of private profit is also
present in European nations, but to a lesser extent
compared with the US. Britain is probably closer to
the US than any other European country in its
compliance with capitalist interests, and it is no
coincidence that Britain has the worst Covid-19
mortality in Europe, despite having a high rate of
vaccination.
Compliance with capitalist interests prevents a
proven policy of containing and eradicating the
Covid-19 virus. That policy is best seen in practice
in China where the government implements strict
lockdowns, travel restrictions, widespread testing,
rapid tracing of infections, masking-wearing in
public, and mass vaccination. However, that policy
is made feasible because China’s socialist system
provides the public resources to enable compliance.
Public health is the priority, not commercial
interests.
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By contrast, in the United States, the public is
largely expected to bear the costs of lockdowns,
long-term unemployment and general living costs.
With an over-reliance on vaccination alone, the
Biden administration is declaring the end of
lockdowns, social distancing and wearing of masks.
Government aid for the unemployed and rental
assistance for families is being terminated.
Workers are being forced back to workplaces and
schools are being reopened in total denial of the
epidemiological scientific advice to maintain
isolation. Why? Because of the imperative for
capitalist businesses to resume profit-making. And
of course, without adequate government support to
laid-off workers, many millions of citizens are
frustrated by the need to get back to work.
One can easily understand anti-lockdown protests
when people are not given financial support to cope
with lockdown. The problem is not the practice of
public health policy per se, it is the practice of
public health policy in a capitalist society where
there is little support for furloughed workers.
Another distinctive problem for the United States –
and to lesser extent European states – is the
inordinate level of misinformation. Millions of
Americans believe that there is no pandemic. Despite
the death toll and prevalent sickness, it is
incredible that so many people are convinced that
the pandemic phenomenon is all a hoax. Such a view
is particularly popular among Trump supporters and
US Republicans who hold the outlandish
conspiratorial belief that it’s all a giant ruse to
take away individual liberty, impose a “Grand Reset”
and a “fascist liberal tyranny” (what a
discombobulation!).
This kind of unscientific conspiracy delusion feeds
into other irrational convictions that are opposed
to wearing face masks in public or against the
administering of vaccines. Irresponsible pundits and
media commentators especially on the right-wing
Murdoch outlets Fox and Sky promulgate
anti-vaccination theories that are deterring large
sections of the population from taking up
inoculation. Some of the wilder fringes actually
believe that vaccines will turn us into zombies as
in the horror film, I Am Legend. Then these same
pundits talk about the danger of “Covid civil war”
breaking out. Well, they have helped create an
atmosphere of confusion, fear, ignorance and
distrust.
The United States is doomed. In its
private-profit-driving society, all basic measures
of public health management are confounded. On top
of this, the level of misinformation and
misdirection also further thwarts a rational plan to
contain the pandemic. That is why we are seeing a
grave resurgence in the pandemic across the United
States. By failing to contain the disease, the
perfect storm conditions in the US make for the
emergence of new deadlier variants of Covid-19. The
biggest worry is that the existing vaccines will no
longer be effective against a newer virulent strain
of the virus.
Millennia of history attest that deadly plagues have
altered the course of history and have even wiped
out civilizations.
For most of the past century, many observers have
pondered on whether the United States and its global
imperial power would be taken down through war with
a geopolitical rival such as the Soviet Union or
more recently Russia and China.
Then along comes an invisible danger, a virus, that
is ripping through the United States in a way not
foreseen. And the vulnerability of the US is all
down to its own internal failings as a capitalist
society saturated with misinformation.
Finian Cunningham
has written extensively on international affairs,
with articles published in several languages. He is
a Master’s graduate in Agricultural Chemistry and
worked as a scientific editor for the Royal Society
of Chemistry, Cambridge, England, before pursuing a
career in newspaper journalism. He is also a
musician and songwriter. For nearly 20 years, he
worked as an editor and writer in major news media
organisations, including The Mirror, Irish Times and
Independent.
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