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After the Dow dropped by 3.6 percent, the third-biggest daily point drop in its history, and followed by another 3.3 percent decline the day after, the U.S. seems to be waking to the shock of COVID-19.

One could say that the U.S. has been sufficiently warned. It has been more than a month since the initial outbreak in China. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, had made warnings to other governments about preparing for outbreaks within their borders. "It's impossible to predict which direction this epidemic will take," Dr. Tedros said on February 15, adding that "the steps China has taken to contain the outbreak at its source appear to have bought the world time."

But the U.S. seems to be caught off guard, and the response has been chaotic.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been clear that America is expecting COVID-19 to spread at the community level and "disruption to everyday life may be severe." The statement was later to be contradicted by White House Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow's assertion that the U.S. has contained the coronavirus.

Appearing before a Senate hearing on Tuesday, the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf was apparently too under-informed to give a straight answer to senator's questioning. When asked by Republican Senator John Kennedy about the estimated number of cases in the U.S., the best answer Wolf came up with was "we do anticipate the number will grow." After a couple of attempts to get some of the most basic questions answered by the secretary, Senator Kennedy was so exasperated that he had all but called the cabinet official of his own political party failing at the job.

Harkening back to U.S.' evacuation of Diamond Princess where officials didn't report to the president about transporting healthy and infected personnel on the same plane, defying CDC's advice, the pattern seems to be emerging. Technical experts are ignored while politicians with executive authorities are failing to grasp at the severity of the situation.

The blame game is already on. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, contradicting his own president's evaluation of China's handling of COVID-19, blames U.S. cases on China, alleging that it censors information about the virus.

He could try. But, the chaos within the U.S. is laid out for the world to see. And shifting attention wouldn't cover it up.

Script writer: Huang Jiyuan

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