We're 10th
 

US testing, on a per capita basis, is 10th.
• COVID-19 testing rate by country | Statista

"Ventilator shortage during coronavirus crisis forcing doctors to decide who lives or dies"
Ventilator shortage during coronavirus crisis forcing doctors to decide who lives or dies | Fox News

I love this country and feel the response to this pandemic was excellent given the information provided to them since no one knew exactly what this was with the exception of China. We are a very lucky population given the scope of what this could had been if the American response hadn’t been so quick as this illness evolved.

This is not a valid question. How are they doing compared to what? There has not been anything like this in recent history to compare against. If was a hurricane, one could compare against responses to other hurricanes.

As others have said, it is largely a political question. How you feel about the current administrations, federal, state and local, will guide your answer.

Let’s just hope we do not have another pandemic where COVID-19 can be used as a baseline.

Not only what you say is true, but how do we know when we are told the truth, or when someone is using sarcasm. Really miss the days that politics stopped at the door of crisis, and honest statesmen took over.

Several posts have been removed because they were off topic, tilting the thread more toward political, or political themselves. The OP asked for members to give a grade for the US performance during the pandemic. Please do that and keep explanations for your answer generic to avoid causing the thread to disappear.

Moderator

I can personally vouch for that.

I'll give the response a C-, basically because we implemented nothing learned from the drill just held in October 2019, sponsored by Johns Hopkins, the World Economic Forum and the Gates Foundation. And because the White House AND Fauci were downplaying the severity as the crisis was unfolding before our eyes in China, Iran and Italy. Granted, they rose to the occasion but a bit too late. And to this day, it's still not easy to get tested.

It’s difficult to “rise to the occasion” when the occasion is evolving and mo one knows until details evolve from the event. People tend to forget the reactions when travel to and from China was shut down. What do you think the reaction would have benn to shutting the country down without the knowledge they have now about the virus? Monday morning quarterbacking makes everything easier.

D-
Shows how ineffective our system of big government is...too many people stepping on each other...too many agencies overlapping....no clear or cogent source...everyone differing on message

Fact: people losing their jobs and not being able to receive unemployment.

Fact: various supply chains not being able to supply the necessary goods (Testing, paper goods, meats etc.

Fact: hospitals not able to handle a pandemic.

Fact: No emergency supply stockpile

Fact: not enough testing kits.

What is so political about these true statements?

In order to handle these problems, planning needs to happen. I guess if you assume that the politicians are responsible for this planning then you are not only dreaming that they can handle this situation but you are wrong.

Bill Gates had alerted everyone to this type of situation many years ago. Nothing happened. It fell onto deaf ears.

I would give a grade of incomplete. No one anticipated this nightmare, and everyone is in a "learn as we go" situation. It is simply wrong to start playing the blame game while things are still working out and we are learning on the fly. Let's see how this whole thing eventually plays out, and then we can start to give out grads, if that is even really necessary?

F-, it's a pity!

I agree!
 

I fully agree with this quote. It is totally unfair to grade officials in a complex, evolving crisis. There are still numerous unknowns and 328 million people with whom to deal. The government responses have had to ramp up over an unbelievably short time.
Come on, people. Honestly ask yourselves if YOU could have done better!!

What surprised me the most was the speed with which the state governors disregarded the U.S. Constitution. The first amendment, the “…right of the people peaceably to assembly, and to petition the Government…” While these are restrictions on the Federal Government, some state governors ignored this and their own state constitutions in order to adsorb more power.

Notwithstanding the title, that article is much more of a "what if" scenario doctors would have to follow with limited supplies.