Activity Review | Muse Lecture: whether the epidemic in the US could be controlled after the president election?
2020 is not a common year. The COVID-19 pandemic has swept the world, resulting in global economic recession. The United-States - a superpower in the world, however, lost its control of the outbreak. Is it because of the President Donald Trump’s personal decision? Or is it due to the decline of its national power? And whether the epidemic in the US could be controlled after the president election?
Muse College has invited Dr.Hu Tao to analyze that why the US lost control of its outbreak, as well as the political trend behind it, from the perspectives of national power, institution and culture. Master Chen Yongqin would be the host of this lecture, Prof. Hao Yufan and other teachers from Gobal Study Program would also share their opinions.
1. To what degree did the US lost control of the outbreak?
Dr. Hu traced back to the process of American epidemic, and concluded that its reaction to the outbreak is relatively slow, its prevention is ineffective and its quarantine is expensive.
2. Why did the US lost control of its outbreak?
Dr.Hu answered the question from three main aspects. From the perspective of national power, the US reaction to the outbreak is slow, there were conflicts between price and demands as well as between supplies and demands in terms of medical resources. From the perspective of institution, Dr. Hu concluded that medical system and political system were the two main causes. From the cultural perspective, it was mainly because of American’s pursuit of individualism and freedom, which increased the difficulty of epidemic control.
3. Whether the epidemic in the US could be controlled after the president election?
According to Dr. He, it would still be hard for the US to control it epidemic, even if Joe Biden comes into power. It doesn’t matter that who’s the president of the US, rather, it’s decided by the national power, the institution and the culture.
In addition to Dr.Hu, Prof.Hao Yufan, an expert of Global Study, also shared his opinion on American coping strategy of the outbreak, and commented that it was also related to the institutional and social differences between China and the US.
