Misplaced priorities in virus fight

The number of COVID-19 infections and deaths in the United States had exceeded 33.8 million and 600,000 as of Monday. Yet on June 28, the US surged to No 1 on Bloomberg's updated COVID-19-resilience list as the best place to be in the COVID-19 era. Apparently, it secured the rank on the basis of metrics such as flight capacity recovery and vaccinated travel routes.

But getting the top ranking won't bring back the 600,000 Americans who have fallen victim to COVID-19. Nor will it ensure the recovery of those still suffering from the disease.

The US administration's colossal failure in fighting the novel coronavirus even a year after the outbreak cannot be ignored. Initially, the administration dithered in taking strict prevention and control measures, including locking down cities, which would have cut the transmission chains early. And instead of trying to convince the American people about the need to wear masks, maintain social distancing and observe other pandemic-appropriate norms, the administration initially made fun of the virus.

Later, realizing it had the highest number of cases in the world, the US resorted to "vaccine nationalism" to hoard not only the vaccines it produced but also those developed and produced by other countries, even though people in developing countries are still in dire need of vaccines.

Worse, even the American people are laughing at its "generous" donation of 80 vaccine vials to Trinidad and Tobago.

But rather than admitting their mistakes and making amends, US politicians are busy propagating conspiracy theories about the origin of the virus. Ironically, China, the target of the conspiracy theories, not only brought the novel coronavirus outbreak largely under control last year but also began helping other countries fight the virus.

Saving lives should be the No. 1 principle in the fight against the virus. No "metrics" can serve as an excuse for failing to do so.

It's time US politicians took stronger measures to protect the American people, instead of gloating over the country's so-called No 1 ranking.