https://news.yahoo.com/worlds-worst-pandemic-leaders-5-122547071.html
The Conversation
World's worst pandemic leaders: 5 presidents and prime ministers who
badly mishandled COVID-19
Sumit Ganguly, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and the
Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations, Indiana University,
Scott L. Greer, Professor, Global Health Management and Policy and
Political Science, University of Michigan, Salvador Vázquez del Mercado,
Conacyt Research Professor, National Laboratory of Public Policy, Centro
de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, Dorothy Chin, Associate Research
Psychologist, University of California, Los Angeles, Elize Massard da
Fonseca, Assistant Professor, Brazilian School of Public Administration,
Fundação Getulio Vargas, and Elizabeth J King, Associate Professor in
Health Behavior and Health Education in the School of Public Health,
University of Michigan
Tue, May 18, 2021, 5:25 AM·7 min read
<span class="caption">Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko visits a
hospital for COVID-19 patients, unmasked, in Minsk on Nov. 27, 2020.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="link rapid-noclick-resp"
href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/belarus-president-lukashenko-visits-hospital-for-covid-19-news-photo/1229813959?adppopup=true";
rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Andrei
Stasevich\TASS via Getty Images">Andrei Stasevich\TASS via Getty
Images</a></span>
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko visits a hospital for COVID-19
patients, unmasked, in Minsk on Nov. 27, 2020. Andrei Stasevich\TASS via
Getty Images
COVID-19 is notoriously hard to control, and political leaders are only
part of the calculus when it comes to pandemic management. But some
current and former world leaders have made little effort to combat
outbreaks in their country, whether by downplaying the pandemic’s
severity, disregarding science or ignoring critical health interventions
like social distancing and masks. All of the men on this list committed
at least one of those mistakes, and some committed all of them – with
deadly consequences.
Narendra Modi of India
Sumit Ganguly, Indiana University
India is the new epicenter of the global pandemic, recording some
400,000 new cases per day by May 2021. However grim, this statistic
fails to capture the sheer horror unfolding there. COVID-19 patients are
dying in hospitals because doctors have no oxygen to give and no
lifesaving drugs like remdesivir. The sick are turned away from clinics
that have no free beds.
Many Indians blame one man for the country’s tragedy: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi.
In January 2021, Modi declared at a global forum that India had “saved
humanity … by containing corona effectively.” In March, his health
minister proclaimed that the pandemic was reaching an “endgame.”
COVID-19 was actually gaining strength in India and worldwide – but his
government made no preparations for possible contingencies, such as the
emergence of a deadlier and more contagious COVID-19 variant.
Even as significant pockets of the country had not fully suppressed the
virus, Modi and other members of his party held jampacked outdoor
campaign rallies before April elections. Few attendees wore masks. Modi
also allowed a religious festival that draws millions to proceed from
January to March. Public health officials now believe the festival may
have been a superspreader event and was “an enormous mistake.”
As Modi touted his successes last year, India – the world’s largest
vaccine manufacturer – sent over 10 million vaccine doses to neighboring
countries. Yet just 1.9% of India’s 1.3 billion people had been fully
inoculated against COVID-19 by early May.
Modi and Bolsonaro shake hands
Modi and Bolsonaro shake hands
Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil
Elize Massard da Fonseca, Fundação Getulio Vargas and Scott L. Greer,
University of Michigan
Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro did not just fail to respond to
COVID-19 – which he derides as a “little flu” – he actively worsened the
crisis in Brazil.
Bolsonaro used his constitutional powers to interfere in the Health
Ministry’s administrative matters, such as clinical protocols, data
disclosure and vaccine procurement. He vetoed legislation that would
have both mandated the use of masks in religious sites and compensated
health professionals permanently harmed by the pandemic, for example.
And he obstructed state government efforts to promote social distancing
and used his decree power to allow many businesses to remain open as
“essential,” including spas and gyms. Bolsonaro also aggressively
promoted unproven medicines, notably hydroxychloroquine, to treat
COVID-19 patients.
Bolsonaro used his public profile as president to shape the debate
around the coronavirus crisis, fostering a false dilemma between
economic catastrophe and social distancing and misrepresenting science.
He has blamed Brazilian state governments, China and the World Health
Organization for the COVID-19 crisis, and has never taken responsibility
for managing his own country’s outbreak.
In December, Bolsonaro declared that he would not take the vaccine
because of side effects. “If you turn into a crocodile, it’s your
problem,” he said.
Bolsonaro’s pandemic mismanagement created conflict within his
government. Brazil cycled through four health ministers in less than a
year. Brazil’s uncontrolled outbreak gave rise to several new
coronavirus variants, including the P.1 variant, which appears more
contagious. Brazil’s COVID-19 transmission rate is finally starting to
drop, but the situation is still worrisome.
Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus
Elizabeth J. King and Scott L. Greer, University of Michigan
Many countries around the world have responded to COVID-19 with
tragically inadequate policies. However, we argue that the worse
pandemic leaders are those handful who chose total denialism over
ineffective action.
Alexander Lukashenko, the longtime authoritarian leader of Belarus, has
never acknowledged the threat of COVID-19. Early in the pandemic, as
other countries were enforcing lockdowns, Lukashenko opted not to
implement any restrictive measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Instead, he claimed the virus could be prevented by drinking vodka,
visiting the sauna and working in the fields. This denialism essentially
left preventative measures and pandemic aid to individuals and
crowdfunding campaigns.
Over the summer of 2020, Lukashenko stated that he had been diagnosed
with COVID-19 but that he was asymptomatic, which allowed him to
continue insisting that the virus was not a serious threat. Allegedly
thwarting the disease and visiting COVID-19 hospitals without a mask
also supported his desired image of a strong man.
Belarus has just started vaccination efforts, but Lukashenko says he
won’t get vaccinated. Currently, fewer than 3% of Belarusians are
inoculated against COVID-19.
Donald Trump of the United States
Dorothy Chin, University of California, Los Angeles
Trump is out of office, but his mishandling of the pandemic continues to
have devastating long-term consequences on the United States –
particularly on the health and welfare of communities of color.
Trump in front of a crowd
Trump in front of a crowd
Trump’s early denial of the pandemic, active propagation of
misinformation about mask-wearing and treatments and incoherent
leadership harmed the country as a whole – but the outcome was much
worse for some groups than others. Communities of color suffered
disproportionate illness and deaths. Although African Americans and
Latinos make up only 31% of the U.S. population, for example, they
account for over 55% of COVID-19 cases. Indigenous Americans were
hospitalized 3.5 times more and suffered 2.4 times the mortality rate of
whites.
Unemployment rates are also disproportionate. During the worst of the
U.S. pandemic, they soared to 17.6% for Latino Americans, 16.8% for
African Americans and 15% for Asian Americans, compared with 12.4% for
white Americans.
These crushing gaps amplified existing inequities such as poverty,
housing instability and quality of schooling – and will likely continue
to do so for some time to come. For example, while the overall U.S.
economy shows signs of recovery, minority groups have not made
equivalent progress.
Finally, Trump’s blame of China for COVID-19 – which included such
racial epithets as calling the virus the “kung flu” – immediately
preceded a nearly twofold increase in attacks on Asian Americans and
Pacific Islanders in the past year. This disturbing trend shows no signs
of abating.
The Trump administration supported the country’s initial development of
the vaccine, an achievement few world leaders can claim. But the
misinformation and anti-science rhetoric he broadcast continues to
compromise America’s path out of the pandemic. Latest polling suggests
24% of all Americans and 41% of Republicans say they will not get
vaccinated.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico
Salvador Vázquez del Mercado, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
With 9.2% of its COVID-19 patients dying from the disease, Mexico has
the highest case fatality rate in the world. Recent estimates show that
it has likely suffered 617,000 deaths – on par with the U.S. and India,
both countries with much larger populations.
A combination of factors contributed to Mexico’s prolonged, extreme
COVID-19 outbreaks. And inadequate national leadership was one of them.
Throughout the pandemic, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador
sought to minimize the gravity of the situation in Mexico. In the very
beginning, he resisted calls to enact a nationwide lockdown and
continued holding rallies nationwide before eventually, on March 23,
2020, Mexico shuttered for two months. He frequently refused to wear a mask.
Mexico's president speaks at a lectern on a stage with a small crowd
of government officials sitting nearby
Mexico's president speaks at a lectern on a stage with a small crowd of
government officials sitting nearby
Having inherited an underfunded patchwork of health services when he
took office in 2018, López Obrador increased health-related expenditures
during the pandemic only slightly. Experts said hospital budgets are
insufficient to the enormous task facing them.
Even before the pandemic broke out, López Obrador’s policy of extreme
fiscal austerity – in place since 2018 – had made tackling a health
crisis much more difficult by significantly limiting the COVID-19
financial aid available to citizens and businesses. That, in turn,
aggravated the economic shock caused by the pandemic in Mexico, feeding
the need to keep the economy open all last year, well into the ferocious
winter second wave, from which Mexico is only beginning to emerge.
Eventually, another lockdown became inevitable. Mexico shut down again
briefly in December 2020.
Today, mask-wearing is up and Mexico has fully vaccinated 10% of its
population, compared with 1% in neighboring Guatemala. Things are
improving, but Mexico’s road to recovery is long.
This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site
dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by:
Sumit Ganguly, Indiana University; Dorothy Chin, University of
California, Los Angeles; Elizabeth J King, University of Michigan; Elize
Massard da Fonseca, COVID crisis in India: why its public health
strategy failedActivist farmers in Brazil feed the hungry and aid the
sick as president downplays coronavirus crisis
Sumit Ganguly receives funding from the US Department of State.
Dorothy Chin receives funding from the Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute
of the National Institutes of Health.
Elize Massard da Fonseca receives funding from the Sao Paulo Research
Foundation and Brazil's National Research Council (CNPq).
Salvador Vázquez del Mercado receives funding from the National Council
of Science and Technology (CONACYT).
Scott L. Greer has received funding from the United States Army Engineer
Research and Development Center, US National Science Foundation, and the
European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.
Elizabeth J King does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive
funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this
article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their
academic appointment.