Passenger with face mask is seen in a metro train in Manhattan of New York, the US, on March 4. Photo: Xinhua

Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was asked by lawmakers when testifying in a House subcommittee on Wednesday if it’s possible that some Americans died of what on the surface seems like influenza but is in fact COVID-19. He confirmed it.

This is a very important piece of information, telling people that the state of novel coronavirus outbreak in the US is much larger than the data that has been released so far. The US just reported over one thousand of confirmed cases and more than 30 deaths. The US’ testing capacity has been far from enough to meet the demand, leading to a cover-up of the true state of the epidemic.

Several celebrities in the US have contracted the coronavirus, military personnel and congressional staff have been infected, and some politicians have been in close contact of confirmed patients. This reflects how the epidemic in the US is widespread.

President Trump said the US is more prepared than any other country to deal with the new coronavirus, and the virus will not have a chance in the US. But his promises have done little to reassure. The US hasn’t taken firm steps to expand the scope of testing, or to significantly reduce human contact. That means not only are there more infected people in the US than official number, those infected people have many opportunities to contact healthy people. 

In the US, efforts to stimulate the economy seem to be moving faster than efforts to prevent epidemic, and protecting people’s lives still doesn't seem to be a top federal policy priority. But with investors lacking confidence in the US response, the stock market in the US has fallen sharply and the markets are filled with pessimism and panic. 

With its inability to fight the epidemic, the US political circle has shifted blame abroad, particularly on China. US National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien has launched the latest attack on China, claiming that China initially “covered up” the epidemic, which cost the international community two months.

This is by far the most shameless remark in Washington trying to shift blame regarding the epidemic. A country's overall understanding of an outbreak is always a process, but since January 20, China's warnings of the outbreak have been deafening. The US should have used the time to step up epidemic prevention, but it apparently wasted that time, and some US politicians even used it to laugh at China and kick China down the road.

The US has a misguided policy of only suspending flights to and from epidemic-hit places. The US, which first suspended flight to and from China, now leads the way to suspend travel from European countries. But it has done little to stop the spread of community transmission, and has all but given up the efforts. The focus on the election led the administration to try to sugarcoat the fact, saying that the risk to the American people from the virus was low and there was no need to panic. Vice President Mike Pence led the federal epidemic prevention, which has had little effect.

Refusing to face up to the reality, the US federal government and some lawmakers have acted almost foolishly. They desperately blamed China for their own mistake, making them look nasty. How can the US be like this? It's not transparent. It's not realistic. More Chinese are surprised by the way they treat the election as more important than human life and the way they mess with it.

There is no point reasoning with the politicians of the US. We Chinese should do our own thing well. We should consolidate the achievements of epidemic prevention, reflect on the situation, cooperate with the world, and support the foreign countries that need our help. The novel coronavirus is a common enemy of all mankind. We don't need to be distracted by America's spats at this time. We should make our own contribution to the global fight against the epidemic.