White House Response to COVID-19 Fails Virtually Everybody
“[COVID-19] affects virtually nobody,” President Trump told a cheering crowd Monday.
Tuesday morning, the confirmed U.S. death toll from COVID-19 passed 200,000 people. Hundreds of thousands more have been hospitalized or are suffering lingering side effects. The nation has 7 million confirmed cases — more than any other country in the world. And, of course, people across the nation are reeling from the economic effects. We can do better.
After skyrocketing past Great Depression-era levels in the early weeks of the pandemic, the national unemployment rate for August 2020 was still 8.4 percent. Black and Hispanic workers — disproportionately bearing the brunt of the health and economic crisis — had higher unemployment rates at 13.0 percent and 10.5 percent, respectively.
Virtually nobody? Small businesses have shuttered their doors permanently at alarming rates. Black-owned businesses are twice as likely to close than white-owned businesses.
Virtually nobody? One in ten households do not have enough food to eat. This percentage is even higher for families with children. Black and Hispanic households experience food scarcity 2.5 times more than white households.
Virtually nobody? More than 10 million adults have little or no confidence they will be able to make next month’s rent or mortgage payment.
When Trump says the coronavirus affects “virtually nobody,” it’s clear he really means “the wealthy are doing just fine.” He’s not counting the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have died or the tens of millions of low- and middle-income households struggling to find employment, put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
Policy solutions to address the COVID-19 health and economic crisis must be driven by the understanding that everybody counts. This means putting forth legislation that targets those who have been most adversely affected. The HEROES Act is the right approach. Passed by House Democrats in May, the measure responds to the scale of the current crisis with substantial relief to state and local governments, expanded unemployment benefits and direct cash payments to those who need it most. The Senate has failed to act on the HEROES Act and instead put forth weaker proposals that won’t live up to this moment.
Lack of leadership has made this health and economic crisis worse than it had to be for virtually everybody.
