The Coronavirus has reported to have nearly 83,740 people infected all over the world. Although there are little to none cases known in the United States, President Trump is sure that the virus will "remain a low risk to American people". On Wednesday at the White House, President Trump made an announcement during a news conference regarding the spread of the Coronavirus. He announced that he would hand over the responsibilities of the Coronavirus disease to Vice President Mike Pence. Trump says that the United States is "Very very ready" for the outbreak, it is inevitable for it to be stopped from spreading. He claims that Vice President Mike Pence has a talent for taking care of situations like this and is "uniquely qualified". Many people don't believe that Pence should be in charge due to his history in medical crisis. Pence hasn't had a good record in public health even amongst his own state. In 2015, Indiana had an outbreak of HIV under the governing of Pence. People were reusing needles to inject opioids. Health officials stated that if new needles were put in place then the state could fight off the outbreak. Pence delayed his response for about 2 months to declare a public health emergency. After a while, feeling pressured, Pence reluctantly agreed to the needle exchange program. The number of HIV infections decreased after it was put in place. Similar to the crisis in 2015, Pence has had similar judgment years before. In 2000, Mike Pence said that smoking doesn't kill. Health officials say that Mike was captured by the money tobacco companies made. they don't want others to know that some products do kill. Some officials say that Pence's reason for saying this was because of a tobacco shop that his parents owned when he was younger. For now, CDC officials will keep an eye on Pence's efforts towards Coronavirus.
Questions:
1. Based on Pence's past history, do you think that handing him responsibility was a good or bad thing?
2. Why do you think Trump willingly handed over the responsibility of the disease?
3. Should the government be concerned about the disease spreading now that pence is in charge?
Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/27/politics/coronavirus-donald-trump-politics-mike-pence-democrats/index.html
Pence is a terrible choice to give the responsibility to. Donald Trump completely overlooks his blunders on handling the HIV outbreak and how it cost him American lives as a result of his mistakes. Further, he disregards how Pence is not the man to do the job. Also, only time will tell how he will handle this very serious outbreak. However, it is already looking bad as the testing in this country is already been botched and the amount of COVID-19 cases is probably way higher.
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