Corona Daily 136: The Worst Pandemic Leader

Which world leader has the worst pandemic record? In yesterday’s Washington Post, Frida Ghitis, a columnist, analyses this interesting question.

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Anyone who didn’t vote for him would think of Donald Trump as a candidate. USA has had 31 million cases, over half a million deaths. With an estimated 3.2 million American deaths, 2020 was the deadliest year in American history. This week Dr Deborah Birx, the former White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, said only the first 100,000 deaths were unavoidable. (Meaning the next 400,000+ were avoidable). It may be an exaggeration, but America was truly unfortunate in having Trump as the pandemic president. He justified his behaviour by calling himself a cheerleader, when there was little to cheer about.

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When other countries were announcing lockdowns, Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega organized a festive parade called “Love in the time of Covid-19”, a parade as surreal as Marquez’s novel. His son tweeted Nicaragua was a unique country and asked the citizens to enjoy life as usual. Months later, Nicaragua published a white paper comparing their strategy with Sweden. If you want to criticize Nicaragua, criticize Sweden first.

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I have written earlier about Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro. He called it “little flu”, to which Brazilians were immune anyway. He coughed in the crowd and shook everyone’s hands to rubbish the social distancing concept. Stop whining, he said to people who pointed out the terrible pandemic toll. Bolsonaro militarized the government, an Army general is his health minister. He is the world’s only leader to use military to oppose lockdowns. Brazil’s supreme court equated his covid policies to genocide. This week heads of the Brazilian army, navy and air force resigned. Brazil is currently the worst placed nation with nearly 4000 deaths a day, and a near collapse of health care. It is also serving as an epicenter for Latin America.

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Mexico’s Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador rejected masks. He also asked people to live life as usual. He promised he would wear a mask only when Mexico is free of corruption. This week, Mexico officially admitted their covid death toll is underreported by 60%. Mexico’s new tally of 321,000 dead suddenly puts it in the second place jointly with Brazil.

Belarus’s dictator Alexander Lukashenko called the whole thing a “psychosis”, and suggested vodka and sauna as the definitive cure.

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Berdimuhamedow’s Turkmenistan has reported no cases, because reporting cases is banned. Mask-wearing is banned, discussing the pandemic is banned. Masks can be worn voluntarily to protect against “airborne dust”. The website of the US embassy in Turkmenistan mentions reports of people with covid-like symptoms placed in hospital quarantine. A human rights group calls the situation in Turkmenistan a disaster. The government’s denial prevents sick people from getting proper treatment or doctors from having the basic knowledge to treat them.

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Tanzania’s John Magufuli belonged to the covid-denial group. He assured the nation that three days of prayer eradicated the virus. The virus was a western hoax and couldn’t survive in Christ’s body. He suggested steam inhalation and traditional herbal medicines.

Trump, Bolsonaro, Lukashenko and most other leaders in this article were infected despite their displayed masculinity. If you have wondered how no political leader dies, well, Tanzania’s president did. Two weeks ago, on 17 March, the 61-year-old Magufuli died, with covid-19 as the suspected cause.

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Who wins the prize for the worst pandemic leader? In my view, it is a tight race between Trump and Bolsonaro, because USA and Brazil are, or are supposed to be, democratic countries.

USA was the best prepared nation for the pandemic. USA has a fearless media, world’s best epidemiologists, and strong financial muscle. Despite all that, the bull-headed Trump managed to bring America to its knees and thousands of Americans to graveyards.

My vote goes to Donald Trump.

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Ravi