Rapid spread of coronavirus in the US is down to Trump wanting 'low numbers', experts suggest

Despite Donald Trump’s sniffily speech from the Oval Office yesterday, the coronavirus crisis in the US does not seem to be abating.

Officials warned it’s “going to get worse” as cases rose to over 1,000 across the country and Donald Trump announced a European travel ban – excluding the countries he has resorts in.

In comparison, Asian countries like Vietnam and South Korea have managed to slow the spread of coronavirus using diligent testing and tracing methods.

Vietnam has currently reported only 33 cases of coronavirus, with no fatalities at the time of writing.

South Korea has had over 7,000 cases and 66 deaths, a fatality rate of 0.9 per cent, with the rate of new cases reported dropping from 909 to around 114 a day.

So people are starting to ask how the virus has spread so quickly in the USA, a wealthy, ‘developed’ country with a well-oiled – if extortionately expensive – healthcare system.

Experts are posting their theories on Twitter – and they’re pretty compelling.

Congressman Ted Lieu, who has extensive experience in foreign policy, outlined his thoughts on how the outbreak had exploded so quickly and why Trump failed to contain it.

“By focusing on China, he failed to stop the virus coming in from other countries,” he posted, before also highlighting the lack of testing as a factor.

Meanwhile, world renowned economist Nouriel Roubini attributed the spread to the lack of testing, thanks to Trump refusing to acknowledge the problem and wanting to keep numbers “very low”.

Which works; data can’t show the spread of an epidemic if you simply refuse to collect it!

ABC journalist James Longman also blamed the lack of available testing but added that no nationwide healthcare system meant tracking cases was proving extremely difficult.

Richard N Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations (aka he is important) said that a ban was needed on large gatherings, rather than travel, as the disease was already in the US.

Trump finally agreed to postpone a planned campaign rally after Democratic rivals suspended theirs as the outbreak worsened.

So basically, the US is in such a worrying position because authorities didn’t test, trace or take action to make sure the public could self-isolate with support.

Absolutely nothing to worry about in the UK then…