We are in the midst of a global pandemic, and the United States has been the hardest hit. People who are meant to lead us through the crisis have failed in terms of preparedness and response. This is most obvious in the executive branch.

The president has, among other things, proposed injecting bleach as a miracle cure for COVID-19. But it is also true of both parties in Congress, who passed a “stimulus” bill 80% of whose funds go to the wealthiest among us, while many millions cope with unemployment or severely reduced employment. And it is true of Andrew Cuomo, who fought successfully to slash billions of dollars from his state’s Medicaid budget as thousands in his state died every day from the virus.

What can a person do when caught with the blood of tens of thousands on their hands? To admit guilt is far too much to expect. The guilty will deflect and distract. And increasingly this is what we hear from politicians and in the press. The real culprit isn’t any one of our elected leaders — never mind that they are the ones who are tasked with weathering this pandemic. No, the real culprit is thousands of miles away, in China. The story goes that the Chinese government hid the extent of the virus, punished whistleblowers, and fooled the World Health Organization. That story falls apart upon a cursory look at the real facts:

On December 26, Hubei-based Dr. Zhang Jixian noticed peculiar respiratory symptoms in patients arriving at her hospital. The hospital notified the local branch of the Chinese Center for Disease Control the same day.

Between December 26 and 29, the number of similar cases grew. Medical institutions in Wuhan began an epidemiological investigation on December 29. By December 31, Chinese CDC officials from Beijing arrived in Wuhan.

The Chinese CDC immediately informed the World Health Organization. On January 1, the director of the Chinese CDC called the head of the United States CDC.

This chain of events began well before Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist, leaked private patient information to personal friends in a chat room. Yet Li’s admonishment has been used to promote the false idea that China hid the virus from us. The truth is that our federal government knew about the virus from January 1 on, and did little to nothing. Let’s keep our eye on the truth of the matter: the people responsible for our present situation are right here in front of us, not across the Pacific Ocean.

Corey McGrath

Potsdam