The cover story: How did the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. get so bad?

The Cover Story COVID-19 Has Killed Nearly 200,000 Americans. How Many More Lives Will Be Lost Before the U.S. Gets It Right? By Alex Fitzpatrick Senior Editor, TIME As the coronavirus outbreak in the United States dragged on over the summer, my fear and anxiety about the virus evolved into frustration—especially as I watched other, similar countries mount a far more effective response. By August, it seemed like life was returning mostly to normal for friends and colleagues elsewhere in the world, while we were stuck in a deadly game of whack-a-mole as the virus receded in one state only to emerge in another. As I write this, the U.S. has over 6.3 million cases —more than any other country—and is closing in on 200,000 deaths; it will almost certainly be the first country to cross that grim milestone. So a few weeks back, I set off to figure out why, exactly, the U.S. was doing so badly compared to what are traditionally thought of as our peer nations. The answer, experts told me, is threefold: failed political leadership at almost every level; a distrust of science, the media and expertise in general; and a unique willingness to accept needless mass death as a fact of everyday life. The story that resulted—a joint effort with my colleague Elijah Wolfson—is, I hope, more than a condemnation of our failings as a country thus far. It's a roadmap for recovery—we cannot, after all, reverse course if we're not honest about the wrong turns we've already made. (Also in this issue, my colleague Alice Park writes that we may have at least one vaccine available by the end of this year, though distribution will create many new questions and challenges.) Despite how grim things may seem as we head into the fall and winter, where yet another spike may await us, there's still time to get this right. Read the Story » Share the cover story

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