White House, a coronavirus hotspot, is cold on contact tracing despite Donald Trump’s Covid-19 diagnosis
- ‘It turns out the most important thing in fighting it seems to be effective political leadership, and in the US we don’t have that,’ says health professor
- The US president and top administration officials have often ignored, played down or undercut the government’s own public health guidelines
The Trump administration’s resistance to contact tracing since the president tested positive for Covid-19 reflects a calculation that there’s little political upside in highlighting this close to the election the number of people at the pinnacle of US power potentially exposed to the virus by him, say health experts and political analysts.
Masks and contact tracing – used effectively in China, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and elsewhere – are proven tools in breaking the chain of infection in lieu of a vaccine, medical experts say. But their success can depend on many other factors.
Public health experts have traditionally focused on the profile of the virus and therapies to combat it.
“But it turns out the most important thing in fighting it seems to be effective political leadership, and in the US we don’t have that,” said Ronald Waldman, a global health professor at George Washington University and former investigator at the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “If your primary priority is getting elected, that’s great for the virus.”
02:47
Donald Trump continues to downplay severity of Covid-19 as more US officials report infections
Analysts say President Donald Trump and aides appears to have concluded that robust tracing of hundreds, even thousands, placed at risk by his inner circle would only spotlight the virulence of a disease he has repeatedly downplayed, claimed would disappear or decried as a hoax.
It also could highlight his controversial policies and behaviour, and the particular vulnerability of top Republicans central to his legacy and re-election effort, they add, hardly a good look for a president losing support in the polls.