The New England Journal of Medicine broke with a tradition of avoiding politics and condemned U.S. President Donald Trump for turning the COVID-19 pandemic from a crisis into a tragedy.
In an editorial titled Dying in a Leadership Vacuum the Journal editors denounced Trump and his administration's response to the pandemic. It called them incompetent. They called for the defeat of Trump on Nov. 3.
The Journal is among the most respected medical publications in the world. It was founded in 1812. Its editorial indicates anger and frustration within the U.S. medical community over the administration's response to a pandemic that has claimed 210,200 American lives. There are 7.48 million confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country, based on data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The editors said the pandemic "has produced a test of leadership. With no good options to combat a novel pathogen, countries were forced to make hard choices about how to respond. Here in the U.S. our leaders have failed that test. They have taken a crisis and turned it into a tragedy."
The editorial said "the magnitude of this failure is astonishing." It said the U.S. led the world in COVID-19 cases and deaths - exceeding the numbers in larger countries such as China.
"The death rate in this country is more than double that of Canada, exceeds that of Japan, a country with a vulnerable and elderly population, by a factor of almost 50 and even dwarfs the rates in lower-middle-income countries such as Vietnam by a factor of almost 2,000."
The editorial said COVID-19 was an overwhelming challenge but one the U.S. could control depending on its response. The U.S., however, has consistently behaved poorly and the real question is "Why?"
"We have failed at almost every step. We had ample warning, but when the disease first arrived, we were incapable of testing effectively and couldn't provide even the most basic personal protective equipment to health care workers and the general public. And we continue to be way behind the curve in testing," the editorial said.
The Trump administration's response "has been consistently inadequate."
The editorial said the federal government had largely abandoned disease control. It said that instead of using proven tools to combat the disease the Trump administration had undermined them.
Trump eviscerated the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, politicized the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and sidelined the National Institutes of Health in vaccine development. "Anyone else who recklessly squandered lives and money in this way would be suffering legal consequences," the editors said. "Our leaders have largely claimed immunity for their actions. But this election gives us the power to render judgment.
"When it comes to the response to the largest public health crisis of our time, our current political leaders have demonstrated that they are dangerously incompetent. We should not abet them and enable the deaths of thousands more Americans by allowing them to keep their jobs."
