How the United States Flunked the COVID-19 Test: Some Observations and Several Lessons

• Author: Rashmita Basu,H. Daniel Xu
• DOI: 10.1177/0275074020941701
• Date: 01 August 2020
• Published date: 01 August 2020
• Subject Matter: Public Management Opportunities & Challenges in the Era of COVID-19Testing the Size, Scope, Capabilities, Capacities, & Limits of State and Local Governments

https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074020941701

American Review of Public Administration

2020, Vol. 50(6-7) 568 –576

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0275074020941701

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Testing the Size, Scope, Capabilities, Capacities, & Limits of State and Local Governments

The unprecedented scale and severity of the COVID-19 pan-

demic caught the United States off guard and wreaked havoc

on the country. The failed response to the pandemic by the

U.S. government has already caused losses of millions of

jobs, trillions of dollars for the economy, and over 100,000 of

lives. While the virus is still ravaging the country and caus-

ing more damages, it has already taught us several important

lessons. In our view, these lessons revealed the current chal-

lenges in several key areas of public administration and pub-

lic health management including the role of state and local

government in the strained federalist system, inadequate data

collection and data reporting in public disease surveillance,

the marginalized role of science in administrative decision

making for public health emergencies, administrative com-

placency and limited intercultural learning, and underinvest-

ment in public health infrastructure and programs. While in

hindsight one would argue that such a disaster could have

been largely avoided or at least its consequences could have

been much less devastating had rapid and appropriate mea-

sures been put in place at the early stage of the pandemic

(Lipton et al., 2020), we believe that learning these lessons

will be critically important not only for preparing and fight-

ing future public health emergencies but also for the field of

public administration, especially in areas of public health

administration and emergency management.

American Federalism and Public

Health Emergency Management

At the daily press conference on COVID-19, Governor

Cuomo of New York was presenting numbers of confirmed

and recovered cases and mortality statistics in solemn voice

while providing guidelines and encouraging words to his

overwrought New York citizens.

At another daily press conference on the pandemic,

Governor Cooper of North Carolina, flanked by Emergency

Management Director Michael Sprayberry and Health and

Human Services (HHS) Director Dr. Mandy Cohen, was

asked about if they had received expired masks from the

national stockpile like the ones shipped to Alabama.

At another daily press conference on the virus, Governor

Ivey of Alabama was standing next to Dr. Scott Harris, the

State Health Officer and an expert in infectious disease,

when she declared the statewide stay-at-home order and

briefing about the pandemic in the state.

941701ARPXXX10.1177/0275074020941701The American Review of Public AdministrationXu and Basu

research-article2020

1East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA

Corresponding Author:

H. Daniel Xu, Department of Political Science, East Carolina University,

Greenville, NC, USA.

Email: xuh19@ecu.edu

How the United States Flunked

the COVID-19 Test: Some Observations

and Several Lessons

H. Daniel Xu1 and Rashmita Basu1

Abstract

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has already caused enormous economic and human life losses in the United States

and it is still ravaging the country. In this article, the authors argue that the pandemic has exposed key issues of concern in

several areas of the American government system ranging from federalist intergovernmental relations to public health system

and to health care policy. These issues of concern include the strained federal-state relations in emergency management,

inadequate data collection and data reporting for disease surveillance and control, politicization and diminished role of

science and evidence in administrative decision making, and underinvestment in public health programs especially in minority

health. Based on their analysis, the authors admonish that it is critically important for the U.S. government to learn from

the failed response to the pandemic and offer several recommendations for improving its response to future public health

emergencies and research in public administration.

Keywords

public health, emergency management, federalism, data reporting, health disparities