, Columnist
America’s Coronavirus Report Card: Grim But Incomplete
The U.S. response to the pandemic raises questions about whether the country is still capable of taking on big projects.
On the battle’s front lines.
Photographer: Kena Betancur/Getty Images North AmericaThis article is for subscribers only.
One of the common knocks against America is that it is no longer capable of “big projects” such as making an atomic weapon, building an interstate highway system or putting a man on the moon. When it comes to the huge national challenge that is Covid-19, so far this critical charge seems correct.
One possible response to Covid-19 would have been to scale up testing early, as was done in South Korea, China, Iceland and other places. Nobel Laureate Paul Romer has called for testing 20 to 25 million Americans a day as a bare minimum (so far the U.S. has done barely 8 million tests total).