There Is No "America First" Answer to COVID-19

COVID-19 is a virus, the ultimate parasite. A virus cannot reproduce by itself, but instead uses the cell it invades to replicate. This quickly becomes a vicious cycle: replicating across cells and, ultimately, across people. A virus is largely indiscriminate in its path, so why would our response assume supremacy among a group of people or a country?

Yes, COVID-19 has an interesting origin story, potentially in China, but does that even matter? Perhaps only because the place in which a virus was first identified provides our earliest cues as to data, treatment options and plans. A virus’ origin is not a political tool and should not be used to ostracize and divide people. In the face of a global pandemic we do not need to blame or punish racial or ethnic groups, we need to join together, share information, and create solutions that will be beneficial for all. The point of a pandemic is not to pick a winner, unless that winner is the global community.

When government leaders politicize a pandemic issue, there is no benefit to humanity. We have this evidence in the history of the Spanish Flu. The Spanish Flu broke out in 1918 at the end of World War I. Both sides were heavily affected, but neither side properly reported the extent of their outbreak because they did not want to look weak or lose morale. The news of the outbreak was heavily stifled in the United States, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and other countries. Alternatively, Spain was not involved in the war, so the media there had no reason to not be fully transparent and truthful in reporting the extent of the outbreak. Their transparency opened the door for people to perceive it as a Spanish disease even though Spain was far from the hardest hit with this disease. Spain’s peak did not hit until June while other European countries had their peaks in January and March. Just as people are starting to see in the current pandemic, the Spanish Flu should not be called the Spanish Flu, it should really be called the “World War Flu” or the “Politician’s Flu.” If there had not been the war and wartime politics, the epidemic would not have been anywhere near as bad and many fewer lives would have been lost.

Looking at our current situation, we see several parallels. Just as at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, early on in the Spanish Flu pandemic, national political officials and hyper nationalists were outspoken about how minimal the risk was. There were lots of suggestions that the Spanish Flu was similar to the common cold and refused to put forth public health measures that would infringe upon their right of individual freedom. President Woodrow Wilson’s administration was slow to act, even though the surgeon general was arguing that if precautions were observed then there would be no cause for alarm. The Wilson administration did not suggest or enforce those precautions, so the spread continued. This all sounds eerily familiar.

During the Spanish flu, local and state governments led the charge in keeping people safe, not the federal government. Certain cities took matters into their own hands, just as we are seeing today. Philadelphia took its cues from the federal response and did not heed health experts or their recommendations. The city continued to have large gatherings and, within three days after the Liberty Loan Parade, virtually every hospital bed in Philadelphia’s 31 hospitals was full. Alternatively, St. Louis closed their city down almost immediately. They tracked sick people closely, advised against congregating in large groups, limited public transportation capacity, and closed schools and theaters; all the measures we now call “social distancing.” These precautions slowed the spread and allowed St. Louis hospitals to remain functioning without being completely overridden.

Today, the Trump Administration has used the economy the way the Wilson administration used the war: minimizing the virus and resisting federal measures to guide state or local actions as a matter of American Exceptionalism and as a means of combating threats to it. Since the beginning, the Trump administration has placed a heavy emphasis on ensuring the greatness of America. The most direct threat to that greatness has been the rise of China as an economic superpower. The Trump administration began a Trade War with China in 2018 in an effort to reduce the trade deficit. The Trump administration sees China as a true threat to the greatness that America once was and is aspiring to be again. The language that the administration has used both in public media discussions and in other conversations has been damaging to the Chinese and Chinese American populations. They have referred to COVID-19 as “Chinese Virus,” “China Virus,” “Wuhan Virus,” and even “Kung Flu.” Just as some Americans echoed the nationalist language of the Wilson administration, Trump’s rhetoric has resonated with his followers. By using language that ostracizes and places blame on people, Asian-Americans have faced discrimination and ignorance, with some Americans assuming people who “look Chinese'' are sick. Chinese restaurateurs, business owners, and other residents face bigotry and boycotts, with Chinatowns in major cities seeing some residents staying away.

Placing blame on a particular population does nothing to slow the spread of COVID-19. It actually does the opposite. By labeling a population as the issue, you push the people away. Once labeled as “the other” or “dangerous,” people may lose their desire to work together to find ways to respond responsibly to the virus; scientists and other nations may lose their interest in collaborating to develop cures or coordinate a global economic response. Because the Trump administration has used language and rhetoric that places blame on the Chinese people, they have closed the door to any collaboration with the medical experts and people who have the data and treatment plans in China. The language has created an us versus them scenario, which is totally against the reality of the situation. In an effort to prove how strong and great America is, the Trump administration has decided to face the virus in an isolation bubble without any measurable help from entities viewed as un-American.

A virus does not care if you are of Asian, African or European descent. A virus only cares to find a host that will allow it to replicate and continue. At the end of the day, a virus of this nature aims to kill the host, find a new host, kill that host, and continue the cycle. So, the language of division, the idea of hiding information to look stronger, and the notion of ostracizing a certain group only makes the goal of the virus easier to achieve. When we come together and work together to create treatment plans, we save all of humanity. By not being transparent or sharing information, we give strength to the virus. We allow it to continue using its same strategy without having to alter in any major way. If we would have collaborated with China and other nations, helped them in their struggle, and learned together, we might have contained the virus. Instead, we used language and acted based on longstanding, baseless stereotypes that are detrimental to Chinese people. The only way to combat a pandemic of this size is to come together and utilize the experts from every country to save all of humanity.

Brigitte Swartwood is a scholar in the New America - IUPUI Public Problem-Solving Partnership. She is in the Medical Humanities track, focused on clinical ethics. Her emerging research priorities include the human experience of pain and how that can impact the worldview of clinical patients.