OPINION: The U.S. Needs to Employ Extreme Measures to Successfully Combat COVID-19

An empty Times Square is a sign of New York City’s extreme measures to combat the virus, and similar efforts should be taken throughout the country (Flickr).

Despite the panic surrounding COVID-19 and the measures being taken to prevent it, the United States has become the epicenter of the pandemic, now reporting 270,000 cases and more than 7,000 deaths. So far, the federal government has left it up to the states to decide what their responses will be. While almost all states have shut down schools and non-essential businesses, critical differences in the policies still remain, making management of the virus more difficult.

Coronavirus hotspots like New York and Louisiana are enforcing strict stay-at-home orders to attempt to slow the spread of the disease. In contrast, states experiencing less severe outbreaks, like Iowa and Kansas, have refrained from issuing such orders. With states’ differing policies on how to handle the crisis, the federal government’s main priority should be passing measures that halt the spread of the virus nationwide. 

While Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has said that a national lockdown will not be necessary due to the variation between states, the potential implications of not having one pose their own risks to the country. 

According to NPR, Former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Juliette Kayyem says that “we are seeing community spread in every state. You need the nation to shut down.” 

While a lockdown sounds extreme in the context of the U.S.’s decentralized government, it may be the only way to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Several countries around the globe have enacted national lockdowns in an attempt to slow the virus’s progression and provide relief for overwhelmed hospitals to varying degrees of success. 

If the U.S. delays passing extreme measures to counter the coronavirus’ spread, it may soon move beyond current hotspots, with countless thousands dying as a result. New York, which has become the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S., had zero cases one month ago. This same drastic progression could happen in other states as well. If the government does not enforce stricter measures across the country now, it could find itself enforcing them later, when more damage has been done and more lives have been lost.