The United States is the new epicenter of the corona pandemic. And the other forecasts by the experts are bleak. Trump is now mobilizing the military and wartime laws to fight the virus.
Washington (dpa) - Thousands of soldiers of the National Guard, drafting of reservists, rapid establishment of military hospitals and now also war powers to control the private sector.
After initial hesitation, US President Donald Trump appears to be fighting the coronavirus epidemic. He now wants to provide the worst affected states with the concentrated power of the federal government.
Time is short: now, with over 110,000 confirmed infections, the United States has more cases than any other country in the world; more than 1800 people have died.
According to Trump, the country and countless other countries around the world are now "at war" against an "invisible enemy", the novel coronavirus Sars-CoV-2. Therefore, on Friday evening (local time) Trump first applied a law that was originally intended for times of war and ordered the car maker General Motors to produce urgently needed ventilators. The production of protective clothing for the health sector and the manufacture of breathing masks are now to be boosted.
WHITE HOUSE ON WAR'S FOOT
A close confidant, Trump's trade advisor Peter Navarro, is now supposed to be responsible for implementing the Defense Production Act. "We are in the most significant industry mobilization since World War II," said Navarro at a joint press conference with Trump at the White House.
"We have a war president fighting an invisible enemy," he said. Now the "full power of the government" is combined with the private sector. For several days, several democratic governors had urged Trump to use the law to mobilize necessary materials.
The first thing to be dealt with is ventilators, which are used in large numbers in hospitals to treat patients suffering from Covid-19 lung disease.
Trump promises to purchase an additional 100,000 ventilators within the next 100 days through the purchase or additional production of American companies. Trump admitted that this corresponds to three times the US production of a normal year. "We're going to produce a lot of ventilators," Trump said. In the end, if the United States didn't need that many, there would be many other nations, including Britain and Italy, who also needed it, Trump said.
RESERVISTS ARE NOW MOBILIZED
Trump also authorized Defense Secretary Mark Esper to call up reservists on Friday. A letter to the chairmen of the two Houses of Parliament in Congress said it was intended to support active forces in responding to the Corona crisis. Acting Minister of Homeland Security Chad Wolf has been authorized to call up Coast Guard reservists.
More than 12,000 National Guard soldiers are currently assisting local authorities in the fight against the virus. The armed forces send hospital ships with 1,000 beds each, and the military is now building field hospitals with around 250 beds each in several cities. On Saturday, Trump said goodbye to the "Comfort" hospital ship in the state of Virginia, which sailed to New York and was due to arrive there on Monday. The city is currently the worst affected by the corona virus in the United States.
SOON BACK TO "BUSINESS AS USUAL"?
Trump had dismissed the virus as a joke until a month ago that could not harm the United States. Since then, he has had to put up with the allegation that the epidemic has caught the country cold due to delayed preparations. The number of infections has recently multiplied in just one week. And all experts say: before the situation improves, everything will get worse. More infections, more suffering, more deaths.
In order to stop the spread of the virus, the government and the states have largely brought public life to a standstill: shops, offices, hotels and restaurants are closed in many places, flights and trains remain empty. The suspension of everyday life is poison for the economy, which is extremely inconvenient for Republican Trump, especially since he is applying for re-election in November. He therefore hopes - despite the rapid spread of the epidemic - to be able to return to normal operations "as soon as possible".
He hoped the current state of emergency would not last for months, Trump said. "I hope it goes away faster," he said of the virus. On Tuesday, he had said that he wanted to see the country largely closed by Easter. Now, however, he added: "Life and security have priority, then the economy."
The government is therefore considering a relaxation of restrictions by area, depending on the risk category. Critics fear, however, that easing the situation for citizens and businesses in some parts of the country could accelerate the spread of the virus again, especially since there are no borders between the parts of the country. The virus is also transmitted by people who have no symptoms.
