On Plugged In..
Where to place …
a pandemic …
among national security …
priorities.
((Samantha Power, former U.S. Ambassador to the UN))
“We’ve spent $180 billion a year on counterterrorism related activities and $2 billion a year on pandemic preparedness.”
Former U.S. Ambassador …
to the United Nations …
Samantha Power …
talks to me about …
the Corona virus threat ...
to national security …
and China’s complicity.
((Samantha Power, former U.S. Ambassador to the UN))
“There was a cover up.”
Also ...
could the antiviral drug Remdesivir …
be the game changer …
seriously ill COVID 19 patients ...
are waiting for?
And one American doctor …
leaves his family in Texas …
to help those hit hardest …
in New York City.
On Plugged In ---
Coronavirus Crisis:
National Security.
((Greta))
Hello and welcome to Plugged In.
I’m Greta Van Susteren reporting from my home in Washington, DC.
With the global death toll from coronavirus climbing past a quarter-of-a-million people, the United States is putting the blame squarely on China.
A new report from the Department of Homeland Security says China intentionally concealed the severity of the coronavirus outbreak while it built a reserve of medical supplies to deal with the virus.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stepped up the Trump administration’s criticism of China - saying the country and its leaders must be held accountable for the pandemic:
((Mike Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of State))
“The Chinese Communist Party had the opportunity to prevent all the calamity that has befallen the world. And here we find ourselves today, you and I were talking, we haven’t seen each other physically for a long time, it’s true of all people all across the world. This is an enormous crisis, created by the fact that the Chinese Communist Party reverted to form – reverted to the kind of disinformation - the kinds of concealment that authoritarian regimes do. If those scientists had been operating in America, they would have put this out, there would have been an exchange of ideas and we would have quickly identified the kinds of things that needed to be done. Instead China behaved like authoritarian regimes do and attempted to conceal and hide.”
((Greta))
My next guest agrees with the Secretary of State that China hid crucial information necessary to deal with the virus.
But instead of focusing on how we got here, Samantha Power says the world needs to look ahead.
In particular, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations says the U.S. must change its thinking about national security and consider a pandemic as much of an existential threat as terrorism or nuclear war:
((Part 1 – GVS Dr. Samantha Power interview))
SP: I think it should cause us all to rethink the balance that we strike among the various tools in the U.S.national security toolbox. We've spent 180 billion dollars a year in the last decade, for example, on counterterrorism related activities and $2 billion a year on pandemic preparedness. And that gets to this sort of narrow conception of national security that many in the foreign policy establishment have brought for many many decades. So, to rewrite that balance to make sure we're making sufficient investments, not only at home in terms of domestic preparedness, but recognizing how connected we are to events in vulnerable communities, in developing countries, knowing we won't be able to return to normal economically as the United States until there's relative normalcy around the world, that should cause us also to make very different kinds of investments in the international system.
GVS: The U.S. and I suppose the world, tends to tends to fight the last war, meaning you know we'll build up from our last experience. This is a brand new experience so I would expect, we're - you know we're not now we are all terrorized, in essence, so we're going to, I hope fight this one going forward.
SP: There is a set of skills and tools that are related to threats that cross borders that aren't simply military threats like those posed by terrorists. I think there's, there are big lessons in this, of course also for climate change, which is a very divisive issue. But maybe out of this, we could see more respect for scientists and scientists who are predicting, you know, at a much slower timeline, but at a far faster one than they were predicting five years ago, but a slower time frame from a pandemic timeframe but nonetheless one in which you will see again vulnerable communities afflicted in really powerfully negative ways. Including by virtue of health risks associated with a warming climate and diseases that have been able to be cabined up to this point but will now become much more widespread.
GVS: There is bipartisan criticism of China for how it handled what has happened with the virus both Republicans and the Democrats. As former ambassador to the U.S. ambassador to the UN, did China do anything out of character? you know, what is your thought on what happened with China?
SP: Well I think so much of the criticism of how they handled the pandemic, the virus initially before it became a pandemic is entirely valid. There was a cover up. It was a cover up rooted in an authoritarian system and a culture of fear that had public health, people who did issue the alarm arrested or disappeared. And that had the Chinese officials operating in the World Health Organization and elsewhere distorting the picture of what was happening on the ground. Even after the fog of war, the fog of pandemic had cleared and they were clear on what happened, there's some understandable uncertainty in the early days, but, you know, at a certain point in which they had clarity that was not clarity that was shared with the rest of the world via international organizations or even bilaterally. So there is an awful lot to criticize and it's rooted in the downside of being a very repressive smothering state in which dissenting viewpoints and pluralistic inputs are not welcomed and we should take that lesson from this pandemic. In terms of my own experience and whether I would be surprised by this, not really insofar as the desire to protect China's reputation. The emphasis on Chinese sovereignty and the reluctance to allow international actors to have any visibility into what's happening inside China, that is true of the mass incarceration of the Uighurs, and it is true of a spreading pandemic.
GVS: How do we sort of reverse our situation? We've got the problem that our supply chain here in the United States, even things like components for generic drugs, which are so important to keep many Americans alive. We've got China building an infrastructure, all over the world. We have the South China Sea where there's where China is trying to get more influence in the South China Sea. And they hold a lot of American debt so how do we move forward?
SP: Well, I think that you'll see in the wake of this crisis and we're all very anxious for, above all, reasons of the fear and the pain that so many families are suffering right now. But once we get beyond it, really thinking through strategically, you know, where it makes sense, all things considered for our supply chains to be extended, how we render those supply chains more resilient than they have proven so that the next disruption which as you know won't look like this disruption- will look very different, won't set U.S. back. And then we will have more domestic capacity, particularly in terms of medical supplies, I think there's no question that that's a lesson that people will take out of this. We have to somehow get used to a universe in which we are competing with China, we are alerting the world to the risks inherent in that repressive system, the damage that does to Chinese citizens who themselves are demanding accountability out of this crisis, but also also the vulnerabilities it creates beyond China. At the same time, we need China to be curbing its coal emissions, and we need China not to be building coal plants as part of the Belt and Road initiative for our sake and for the sake of, again, mitigating.
GVS: How do you do this though? (crosstalk)
SP: This is why nuanced and complex diplomacy is needed. You know, diplomacy that allows you to cooperate on certain issues. We're going to want to cooperate with China for the next ISIS that exists out in the world. We're going to need to, you know, cooperate on issues related to public health in the future. I mean the next pandemic may not start in China. We may need Chinese medical supplies to be pooled with ours to deal with it, wherever it breaks out. And so right now, we're in the mudslinging phase, but we're also in the lesson learning phase, but there is going to have to be a time for dispassionate disaggregation of this relationship where we figure out what are we going to have to do with China, where our interests are at stake? You mentioned the debt that is owned by China and you don't get to just pull up stakes in a world in which our economy is so tied to that of the Chinese government and and so but you know a tougher stance, for sure, but one that doesn't throw the baby out with bathwater, and that recognizes that there are certain dimensions of U.S. national security that we need to cooperate with other very large powers of the world in order to be able to promote.
((Greta))
We’ll hear more about China from Ambassador Power in just a few minutes.
First, a quick update on the race for a cure.
At least 115 vaccine projects are underway according to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation.
One such project at Britain’s Oxford University is showing promise.
One of its scientists says the team hopes to see a "signal” of success by June.
In the U.S. - government health officials gave emergency use authorization to a drug that is not a cure but helps those with COVID-19 recover faster.
VOA White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has details.
((A Positive Step by Patsy Widakuswara)
((NARRATOR))
Remdesivir is an experimental, broad-spectrum antiviral drug made by American pharmaceutical Gilead Sciences that was first developed to treat the Ebola virus. President Donald Trump announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved its emergency use to treat COVID-19.
((President Donald Trump))
“It’s really a very promising situation. We've been doing work with the teams at the FDA and NIH and Gilead for spearheading this public-private partnership to make this happen very quickly.”
((NARRATOR))
Preliminary studies showed remdesivir can help patients recover four days faster on average. Former FDA Associate Commissioner Peter Pitts.
((Peter Pitts, Center for Medicine in the Public Interest))
“It is not a game changer, but it is extremely important for a number of reasons. Firstly, it shows that we can, in fact, impact the course of the disease for those who are most at risk. And secondly, it will allow us to better allocate our resources for hospitals, hospital beds, gowns, masks, doctors, nurses, health care technicians so that we can protect those most at risk.”
((NARRATOR))
CEO Daniel O'Day said Gilead Sciences is donating 1.5 million vials of the drug and would work with the federal government to distribute it to patients in need.
The FDA previously authorized emergency use of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to fight the COVID-19 virus, then issued a warning against taking it outside of a hospital or clinical trial after reports of “serious heart rhythm problems” in patients.
Without other proven treatments, health care workers will likely be considering remdesivir, particularly for patients who are severely ill.
((Peter Pitts, Center for Medicine in the Public Interest))
“Remdesivir and its emergency use authorization is not a signal for the 85% of COVID-19 patients who can, in fact, ride the disease out at home in bed resting plenty of fluids. This is for a desperately ill population, and that's why the EUA (Emergency Use Authorization) was issued because these people really need help and they need it right now.”
((NARRATOR))
Other big news from the White House Friday: the return of briefings by the press secretary.
((Kayleigh McEnany, White House Press Secretary ))
“I will never lie to you, you have my word on that. As to the timing of the briefings, we do plan to do them. I will announce timing of that forthcoming, but we do plan to continue.”
((Patsy Widakuswara, VOA News.))
Do the Five – Help stop coronavirus:
Hands - wash them often.
Elbow – cough into it.
Face – don’t touch it.
Feet – Stay more than 3 feet (1 meter) apart.
Feel Sick? Stay at home.
Do the five – help stop coronavirus.
((Greta))
Countries in Africa have much fewer cases of coronavirus than elsewhere in the world.
But the presence of COVID-19 on a continent with a weaker health care systems has some countries resorting to military force to enforce lockdowns.
VOA’s Salem Solomon reports, those security forces are facing risks deploying during a pandemic.
((South Africa Lockdown by Salem Solomon))
((NARRATOR))
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered the deployment of 73,000 soldiers to enforce a lockdown in the country’s fight against the coronavirus. The move is unprecedented in the modern history of the country.
((CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT))
“Your mission is a mission to save lives. You are required to go out and save the lives of the 57 million South Africans who live within the borders of our country.”
((NARRATOR))
Across Africa, security forces are being called upon to seal borders, enforce quarantines and maintain order. The measures are viewed with mixed emotions on a continent where, throughout history, military and police forces have been used to control the civilian population instead of protecting them.
There have already been instances of violence. On April 12, soldiers from the South African National Defense Force were accused of beating a man to death in Alexandra, north of Johannesburg. He was the ninth person killed in April by South African security forces, according to local reports.
John Siko, a director at a security consulting firm based in Dubai, said most militaries on the African continent are not trained in maintaining “public order.” Infantry training that teaches soldiers to subdue an enemy or retake a position could have tragic consequences when applied to a civilian population.
((JOHN SIKO, DIRECTOR OF BURNHAM GLOBAL))
“How many places are even sending guys into squatter camps or other informal settlements around the continent, potentially with live rounds; it doesn’t take much to set off a real disaster here.”
((NARRATOR))
Siko said security forces need more training for missions that may require crowd control or other duties.
((JOHN SIKO, DIRECTOR OF BURNHAM GLOBAL))
“There’s a great deal of desire and necessity for public order training to make sure that guys can respond in a human rights-respective manner when this does happen.”
((NARRATOR))
Dr. Cyrus Shahpar agrees. He is a physician and director of the Prevent Epidemics team at a global public health organization with operations in Africa.
((DR. CYRUS SHAHPAR, PREVENT EPIDEMICS TEAM AT RESOLVE TO SAVE LIVES))
“Most militaries, when they get involved in disasters, they’re not so well trained on, say infectious disease events. It’s important that training is in place, if the military is going to get involved to protect the military, too — that they understand the risks of them getting involved in an infectious disease event. And that’s all based on science.”
((NARRATOR))
Siko said that foreign training often focuses on the military, but assistance is also needed to help the gendarmes and police forces most often called upon to interact with civilians.
((JOHN SIKO, DIRECTOR OF BURNHAM GLOBAL))
“So, I think the next few weeks are going to be quite critical. Unfortunately, I do think it’s a bit too late for, you know, Western or donor responses to have much impact here. But it has to be strategic longer term, something that I think Washington, the [Trump] administration and others need to really be considering moving forward.”
((SALEM SOLOMON, VOA NEWS, WASHINGTON))
((Greta))
One of the largest U.S. military exercises in Africa was cancelled because of coronavirus concerns.
Operation “African Lion” was to include more than 9,000 troops from eight nations.
The pandemic has created national security concerns for the United States and every other nation.
Samantha Power was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Her memoir – “the Education of an Idealist “ is a best-selling book.
In part two of our conversation we examine the challenges involving China and global cooperation on corona virus.
((Part 2 – GVS Dr. Samantha Power interview))
GVS: Do you think China feels chastened by what happened? Do you think they feel still, they're still holding the position strong that they essentially did everything the correct way?
SP: It's really hard to pry open what's actually happening at the highest levels. I mean if you're President Xi you don't want this happening again. So you would hope that there'd be some very substantial after action look at everything that went wrong, and some lesson learning. But from the outside it looks like most of the lessons are now taking the form of greater crackdown and greater aggressiveness and greater silencing and a greater stirring of nationalism. And not only is that very dangerous and puts us on this escalatory rhetorical path with China. But it's the the exact way you would respond if you wanted to see just this kind of thing happen again, it's really quite dangerous.
GVS: What is the function of WHO in your mind, and did WHO let U.S. down?
SP: I think that, you know, one takeaway for us out of this is just a reminder of how important U.S. leadership within international institutions is. You know, you remember Richard Holbrooke the late, American diplomat, he used to say that, blaming you know some UN agency for a crisis is like blaming Madison Square Garden when the New York Knicks play badly. It's a building. It's not only a building and I'll come to WHO's own responsibility, but it is a building in which countries come, and it's it's a scrum and the tallest players and the richest players and the, you know, players with the largest militaries may on a given day have more impact, you know, than smaller countries. Certainly the United States has huge impact when it leads within international institutions and China now has a growing impact. Because the United States stepped back from international organizations, and particularly didn't even fill its the World Health Organization executive board seat, you know just left it vacant, showing its devaluation of these organizations, you know you have seen China, stepping into that breach. And I think the World Health Organization senior officials in the civil service, you know really have reasons to look back and say we should have spoken out sooner we should have been more confrontational when China was denying access. We tried the behind the scenes effort to secure access. But at a certain point when that behind the scenes diplomacy isn't working, there is a need in a modern world where the rest of the world is looking to the WHO for its cues to be outspoken and transparent and not try to work everything behind the scenes, particularly with an authoritarian country that itself is likely cooking the books. And so I think, WHO absolutely needs to go back to its timeline and ask itself, whether that could not have been accelerated. It did issue though a global health emergency, you know at the end of January, which gave us in the United States plenty of time, I think, to get our house in order-- not, I shouldn't say plenty of time but but weeks at least to get our house in order, and to take a set of prophylactic and preventive measures. So the timeline is a bit complicated.
GVS: Is that because the nuanced diplomacy, though, where you're trying to sort of nuance, you know the diplomacy with so many issues on the plate?
SP: I mean it's hard right? you've got very very different voices coming at you, but the fact of the matter is, WHO does not have very robust authorities to go beyond what member states will let it do and say. So for example you know many of us are asking why didn't WHO get access, for example, to the lab in Wuhan? Why didn't they get access to China itself far earlier? Answer- it doesn't have the, you know, U.S. Marines to take it into China and to buck Chinese opposition and resistance so it tried to work behind the scenes. I mean I can't imagine what would have happened if the WHO had tried to enter a U.S. lab, if the president of the United States was saying that that access was not permitted. It would be very challenging. So, you know, out of this, we really need to think through how do we vest in an international health organization that is a gathering of member states, the authorities that it needs to do the job when a country is resisting its access? Are there for example, the kinds of sanctions tools or at least diplomatic condemnation tools that, for example the UN Security Council has - does a technocratic health organization need something similar? Or does there need to be a baton passed, for example, to the G7, or to NATO or to the European Union or, you know, -- is it that other countries need to step into the breach when the WHO is getting stonewalled? But right now, you know, it does not have the authority to do much beyond what it did, other than use its voice, and that in for the time being, it needs to use its voice much more forcefully I think than it did.
Fear is what causes people to muzzle concerns that they have about the wisdom of a course of action. It causes people to self silence, it causes, in the case of Wuhan, as we know, you know, public health professionals, not to carry out autopsies, not to test because they didn't want to know the answer to those tests or the verdict of those tests because they didn't want to pass on that information to Beijing because they were worried about the career consequences. I mean if we needed an affirmation. And I think we actually did because of the democracy deficit around the world, and the Human Rights recession that we've been seeing for the better part of a decade, but if we needed an affirmation of the importance of transparency, of accountable governance, of trust, of legitimacy, of teams of rivals, of dissent, you know, there, there are plenty of reminders that have come out of these, these last couple months. And unfortunately because of our own polarization Greta at home, and for other reasons, in particular decisions that were made by particularl individuals, we're not offering in the United States, a flagship example for the world of a model democracy you know kind of quenching this virus in real time. But there are plenty of other democracies that are, that are performing, you know, very very admirably and and from which I hope people see again the importance of having trust in leadership, technocratic expertise like in New Zealand, like in Germany, like in the Republic of Korea, you know, just a stone's throw away from a regime of terror. You have a government that managed to put in place, one of the most robust testing apparatuses that we've seen all around the globe, and thus has had way more success than so many other countries that have deployed even more resources at quenching this this virus. so I hope that we can see again the challenges that some democracies have faced and and usually those stem from a lack of unity and political division really impeding the kind of solidarity that we need at a time like this, but also see just how easily many democracies have performed, and and try to take the best of those responses as we look ahead to the future. And those lessons apply well beyond the national security space.
COVID-19 Fast Facts:
This is a special presentation of Voice of America.
Wash your hands with soap and water – before you eat, after using the toilet, after touching anything many other people touch like a seat on a public bus. Scrub thoroughly for 20 seconds. If you cannot wash your hands, use a hand sanitizer. Taking these steps can prevent not only coronavirus but also colds and flu and other viruses.
VOA – A free press matters.
((Greta))
As we look to the future to see what worked and what did not, it is important to look at the valiant efforts of volunteers and those who had to work risking their lives, sacrificing their safety and the safety of their families to help complete strangers.
VOA’s Carolyn Presutti met one doctor who moved far from his family to help build a field hospital in the American epicenter of the pandemic.
((On the Frontlines by Carolyn Presutti))
((Narrator))
This is Mike Wilson at home. This is Dr. Wilson at work.
In Texas, he and his wife care for their seven children.
In New York City, he cares for hundreds of patients.
((Dr. Michael Wilson, Medical Director))
“This is like our Super Bowl if I had to say, you know, we spend a lot of time in our career taking care of, you know, maybe some runny noses and sprained ankles and that kind of stuff. But this is the thing that we really trained to do.”
((NARRATOR))
So when he saw coronavirus videos like this, he knew he had to fly to New York to be on the front lines.
((Dr. Michael Wilson, Medical Director))
“I wanted my children to know that when whatever it is in their lifetime -- that no matter what your politics are, what your religious beliefs are, whatever -- when the balloon goes up and the nation issues a call to help, you don't just sit there.”
((NARRATOR))
Wilson helped build his hospital from scratch. It’s a bit unsettling for patients who enter a New York field hospital assembled inside a ship, a convention center, or a sports stadium.
Wilson also had to adapt when his first 25 patients spoke five different languages.
((Dr. Michael Wilson, Medical Director))
“These are people from the near and the Far East. They are dialects of, you know, Muslim countries that I've ever heard of. So just such a vast, rich culture.”
((NARRATOR))
He says doctors now better understand the path of the virus with the crucial time being its 5th-8th day. Dr. Wilson agrees the curve is flattening, but he worries that big cities may open too soon, and a second wave of sickness will shut down the country again.
((Dr. Michael Wilson, Medical Director))
“The medical surgical floors are so full of patients who are on ventilators. Like there's nobody without a tube up there. The cafeterias are still, you know, housing patients. Yeah, the ERs aren't full anymore and, you know, the waiting rooms are probably desolate, but there's still the infrastructure of in the hospital is still on, to some degree itself is on life support. It can’t function as a hospital anymore. It’s just a COVID center.”
((NARRATOR))
Video care packages sent from home keep him strong. Wilson is in his fourth week of 14-hour shifts without a single day off. He keeps grounded by participating in family routines from his hotel room, not knowing when he will see his home again.
((Dr. Michael Wilson, Medical Director))
“I FaceTime with the babies. We do story time. I spend some time with the older kids in the evening or read our scriptures. We say our family prayers and then once they go to bed, before I go to bed, I spend some time with my wife.”
((NARRATOR))
What’s Dr. Wilson miss the most? Human touch. He has not touched another human being without a glove on for 24 days.
((Carolyn Presutti, VOA News))
((Greta))
That is all the time we have for this edition of Plugged In.
We will continue to follow this crisis.
But for the latest updates visit our website: at VOANews.com.
And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Greta.
Thank you for being Plugged In.
See you again next week!
Where to place …
a pandemic …
among national security …
priorities.
((Samantha Power, former U.S. Ambassador to the UN))
“We’ve spent $180 billion a year on counterterrorism related activities and $2 billion a year on pandemic preparedness.”
Former U.S. Ambassador …
to the United Nations …
Samantha Power …
talks to me about …
the Corona virus threat ...
to national security …
and China’s complicity.
((Samantha Power, former U.S. Ambassador to the UN))
“There was a cover up.”
Also ...
could the antiviral drug Remdesivir …
be the game changer …
seriously ill COVID 19 patients ...
are waiting for?
And one American doctor …
leaves his family in Texas …
to help those hit hardest …
in New York City.
On Plugged In ---
Coronavirus Crisis:
National Security.
((Greta))
Hello and welcome to Plugged In.
I’m Greta Van Susteren reporting from my home in Washington, DC.
With the global death toll from coronavirus climbing past a quarter-of-a-million people, the United States is putting the blame squarely on China.
A new report from the Department of Homeland Security says China intentionally concealed the severity of the coronavirus outbreak while it built a reserve of medical supplies to deal with the virus.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stepped up the Trump administration’s criticism of China - saying the country and its leaders must be held accountable for the pandemic:
((Mike Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of State))
“The Chinese Communist Party had the opportunity to prevent all the calamity that has befallen the world. And here we find ourselves today, you and I were talking, we haven’t seen each other physically for a long time, it’s true of all people all across the world. This is an enormous crisis, created by the fact that the Chinese Communist Party reverted to form – reverted to the kind of disinformation - the kinds of concealment that authoritarian regimes do. If those scientists had been operating in America, they would have put this out, there would have been an exchange of ideas and we would have quickly identified the kinds of things that needed to be done. Instead China behaved like authoritarian regimes do and attempted to conceal and hide.”
((Greta))
My next guest agrees with the Secretary of State that China hid crucial information necessary to deal with the virus.
But instead of focusing on how we got here, Samantha Power says the world needs to look ahead.
In particular, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations says the U.S. must change its thinking about national security and consider a pandemic as much of an existential threat as terrorism or nuclear war:
((Part 1 – GVS Dr. Samantha Power interview))
SP: I think it should cause us all to rethink the balance that we strike among the various tools in the U.S.national security toolbox. We've spent 180 billion dollars a year in the last decade, for example, on counterterrorism related activities and $2 billion a year on pandemic preparedness. And that gets to this sort of narrow conception of national security that many in the foreign policy establishment have brought for many many decades. So, to rewrite that balance to make sure we're making sufficient investments, not only at home in terms of domestic preparedness, but recognizing how connected we are to events in vulnerable communities, in developing countries, knowing we won't be able to return to normal economically as the United States until there's relative normalcy around the world, that should cause us also to make very different kinds of investments in the international system.
GVS: The U.S. and I suppose the world, tends to tends to fight the last war, meaning you know we'll build up from our last experience. This is a brand new experience so I would expect, we're - you know we're not now we are all terrorized, in essence, so we're going to, I hope fight this one going forward.
SP: There is a set of skills and tools that are related to threats that cross borders that aren't simply military threats like those posed by terrorists. I think there's, there are big lessons in this, of course also for climate change, which is a very divisive issue. But maybe out of this, we could see more respect for scientists and scientists who are predicting, you know, at a much slower timeline, but at a far faster one than they were predicting five years ago, but a slower time frame from a pandemic timeframe but nonetheless one in which you will see again vulnerable communities afflicted in really powerfully negative ways. Including by virtue of health risks associated with a warming climate and diseases that have been able to be cabined up to this point but will now become much more widespread.
GVS: There is bipartisan criticism of China for how it handled what has happened with the virus both Republicans and the Democrats. As former ambassador to the U.S. ambassador to the UN, did China do anything out of character? you know, what is your thought on what happened with China?
SP: Well I think so much of the criticism of how they handled the pandemic, the virus initially before it became a pandemic is entirely valid. There was a cover up. It was a cover up rooted in an authoritarian system and a culture of fear that had public health, people who did issue the alarm arrested or disappeared. And that had the Chinese officials operating in the World Health Organization and elsewhere distorting the picture of what was happening on the ground. Even after the fog of war, the fog of pandemic had cleared and they were clear on what happened, there's some understandable uncertainty in the early days, but, you know, at a certain point in which they had clarity that was not clarity that was shared with the rest of the world via international organizations or even bilaterally. So there is an awful lot to criticize and it's rooted in the downside of being a very repressive smothering state in which dissenting viewpoints and pluralistic inputs are not welcomed and we should take that lesson from this pandemic. In terms of my own experience and whether I would be surprised by this, not really insofar as the desire to protect China's reputation. The emphasis on Chinese sovereignty and the reluctance to allow international actors to have any visibility into what's happening inside China, that is true of the mass incarceration of the Uighurs, and it is true of a spreading pandemic.
GVS: How do we sort of reverse our situation? We've got the problem that our supply chain here in the United States, even things like components for generic drugs, which are so important to keep many Americans alive. We've got China building an infrastructure, all over the world. We have the South China Sea where there's where China is trying to get more influence in the South China Sea. And they hold a lot of American debt so how do we move forward?
SP: Well, I think that you'll see in the wake of this crisis and we're all very anxious for, above all, reasons of the fear and the pain that so many families are suffering right now. But once we get beyond it, really thinking through strategically, you know, where it makes sense, all things considered for our supply chains to be extended, how we render those supply chains more resilient than they have proven so that the next disruption which as you know won't look like this disruption- will look very different, won't set U.S. back. And then we will have more domestic capacity, particularly in terms of medical supplies, I think there's no question that that's a lesson that people will take out of this. We have to somehow get used to a universe in which we are competing with China, we are alerting the world to the risks inherent in that repressive system, the damage that does to Chinese citizens who themselves are demanding accountability out of this crisis, but also also the vulnerabilities it creates beyond China. At the same time, we need China to be curbing its coal emissions, and we need China not to be building coal plants as part of the Belt and Road initiative for our sake and for the sake of, again, mitigating.
GVS: How do you do this though? (crosstalk)
SP: This is why nuanced and complex diplomacy is needed. You know, diplomacy that allows you to cooperate on certain issues. We're going to want to cooperate with China for the next ISIS that exists out in the world. We're going to need to, you know, cooperate on issues related to public health in the future. I mean the next pandemic may not start in China. We may need Chinese medical supplies to be pooled with ours to deal with it, wherever it breaks out. And so right now, we're in the mudslinging phase, but we're also in the lesson learning phase, but there is going to have to be a time for dispassionate disaggregation of this relationship where we figure out what are we going to have to do with China, where our interests are at stake? You mentioned the debt that is owned by China and you don't get to just pull up stakes in a world in which our economy is so tied to that of the Chinese government and and so but you know a tougher stance, for sure, but one that doesn't throw the baby out with bathwater, and that recognizes that there are certain dimensions of U.S. national security that we need to cooperate with other very large powers of the world in order to be able to promote.
((Greta))
We’ll hear more about China from Ambassador Power in just a few minutes.
First, a quick update on the race for a cure.
At least 115 vaccine projects are underway according to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation.
One such project at Britain’s Oxford University is showing promise.
One of its scientists says the team hopes to see a "signal” of success by June.
In the U.S. - government health officials gave emergency use authorization to a drug that is not a cure but helps those with COVID-19 recover faster.
VOA White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has details.
((A Positive Step by Patsy Widakuswara)
((NARRATOR))
Remdesivir is an experimental, broad-spectrum antiviral drug made by American pharmaceutical Gilead Sciences that was first developed to treat the Ebola virus. President Donald Trump announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved its emergency use to treat COVID-19.
((President Donald Trump))
“It’s really a very promising situation. We've been doing work with the teams at the FDA and NIH and Gilead for spearheading this public-private partnership to make this happen very quickly.”
((NARRATOR))
Preliminary studies showed remdesivir can help patients recover four days faster on average. Former FDA Associate Commissioner Peter Pitts.
((Peter Pitts, Center for Medicine in the Public Interest))
“It is not a game changer, but it is extremely important for a number of reasons. Firstly, it shows that we can, in fact, impact the course of the disease for those who are most at risk. And secondly, it will allow us to better allocate our resources for hospitals, hospital beds, gowns, masks, doctors, nurses, health care technicians so that we can protect those most at risk.”
((NARRATOR))
CEO Daniel O'Day said Gilead Sciences is donating 1.5 million vials of the drug and would work with the federal government to distribute it to patients in need.
The FDA previously authorized emergency use of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to fight the COVID-19 virus, then issued a warning against taking it outside of a hospital or clinical trial after reports of “serious heart rhythm problems” in patients.
Without other proven treatments, health care workers will likely be considering remdesivir, particularly for patients who are severely ill.
((Peter Pitts, Center for Medicine in the Public Interest))
“Remdesivir and its emergency use authorization is not a signal for the 85% of COVID-19 patients who can, in fact, ride the disease out at home in bed resting plenty of fluids. This is for a desperately ill population, and that's why the EUA (Emergency Use Authorization) was issued because these people really need help and they need it right now.”
((NARRATOR))
Other big news from the White House Friday: the return of briefings by the press secretary.
((Kayleigh McEnany, White House Press Secretary ))
“I will never lie to you, you have my word on that. As to the timing of the briefings, we do plan to do them. I will announce timing of that forthcoming, but we do plan to continue.”
((Patsy Widakuswara, VOA News.))
Do the Five – Help stop coronavirus:
Hands - wash them often.
Elbow – cough into it.
Face – don’t touch it.
Feet – Stay more than 3 feet (1 meter) apart.
Feel Sick? Stay at home.
Do the five – help stop coronavirus.
((Greta))
Countries in Africa have much fewer cases of coronavirus than elsewhere in the world.
But the presence of COVID-19 on a continent with a weaker health care systems has some countries resorting to military force to enforce lockdowns.
VOA’s Salem Solomon reports, those security forces are facing risks deploying during a pandemic.
((South Africa Lockdown by Salem Solomon))
((NARRATOR))
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered the deployment of 73,000 soldiers to enforce a lockdown in the country’s fight against the coronavirus. The move is unprecedented in the modern history of the country.
((CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT))
“Your mission is a mission to save lives. You are required to go out and save the lives of the 57 million South Africans who live within the borders of our country.”
((NARRATOR))
Across Africa, security forces are being called upon to seal borders, enforce quarantines and maintain order. The measures are viewed with mixed emotions on a continent where, throughout history, military and police forces have been used to control the civilian population instead of protecting them.
There have already been instances of violence. On April 12, soldiers from the South African National Defense Force were accused of beating a man to death in Alexandra, north of Johannesburg. He was the ninth person killed in April by South African security forces, according to local reports.
John Siko, a director at a security consulting firm based in Dubai, said most militaries on the African continent are not trained in maintaining “public order.” Infantry training that teaches soldiers to subdue an enemy or retake a position could have tragic consequences when applied to a civilian population.
((JOHN SIKO, DIRECTOR OF BURNHAM GLOBAL))
“How many places are even sending guys into squatter camps or other informal settlements around the continent, potentially with live rounds; it doesn’t take much to set off a real disaster here.”
((NARRATOR))
Siko said security forces need more training for missions that may require crowd control or other duties.
((JOHN SIKO, DIRECTOR OF BURNHAM GLOBAL))
“There’s a great deal of desire and necessity for public order training to make sure that guys can respond in a human rights-respective manner when this does happen.”
((NARRATOR))
Dr. Cyrus Shahpar agrees. He is a physician and director of the Prevent Epidemics team at a global public health organization with operations in Africa.
((DR. CYRUS SHAHPAR, PREVENT EPIDEMICS TEAM AT RESOLVE TO SAVE LIVES))
“Most militaries, when they get involved in disasters, they’re not so well trained on, say infectious disease events. It’s important that training is in place, if the military is going to get involved to protect the military, too — that they understand the risks of them getting involved in an infectious disease event. And that’s all based on science.”
((NARRATOR))
Siko said that foreign training often focuses on the military, but assistance is also needed to help the gendarmes and police forces most often called upon to interact with civilians.
((JOHN SIKO, DIRECTOR OF BURNHAM GLOBAL))
“So, I think the next few weeks are going to be quite critical. Unfortunately, I do think it’s a bit too late for, you know, Western or donor responses to have much impact here. But it has to be strategic longer term, something that I think Washington, the [Trump] administration and others need to really be considering moving forward.”
((SALEM SOLOMON, VOA NEWS, WASHINGTON))
((Greta))
One of the largest U.S. military exercises in Africa was cancelled because of coronavirus concerns.
Operation “African Lion” was to include more than 9,000 troops from eight nations.
The pandemic has created national security concerns for the United States and every other nation.
Samantha Power was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Her memoir – “the Education of an Idealist “ is a best-selling book.
In part two of our conversation we examine the challenges involving China and global cooperation on corona virus.
((Part 2 – GVS Dr. Samantha Power interview))
GVS: Do you think China feels chastened by what happened? Do you think they feel still, they're still holding the position strong that they essentially did everything the correct way?
SP: It's really hard to pry open what's actually happening at the highest levels. I mean if you're President Xi you don't want this happening again. So you would hope that there'd be some very substantial after action look at everything that went wrong, and some lesson learning. But from the outside it looks like most of the lessons are now taking the form of greater crackdown and greater aggressiveness and greater silencing and a greater stirring of nationalism. And not only is that very dangerous and puts us on this escalatory rhetorical path with China. But it's the the exact way you would respond if you wanted to see just this kind of thing happen again, it's really quite dangerous.
GVS: What is the function of WHO in your mind, and did WHO let U.S. down?
SP: I think that, you know, one takeaway for us out of this is just a reminder of how important U.S. leadership within international institutions is. You know, you remember Richard Holbrooke the late, American diplomat, he used to say that, blaming you know some UN agency for a crisis is like blaming Madison Square Garden when the New York Knicks play badly. It's a building. It's not only a building and I'll come to WHO's own responsibility, but it is a building in which countries come, and it's it's a scrum and the tallest players and the richest players and the, you know, players with the largest militaries may on a given day have more impact, you know, than smaller countries. Certainly the United States has huge impact when it leads within international institutions and China now has a growing impact. Because the United States stepped back from international organizations, and particularly didn't even fill its the World Health Organization executive board seat, you know just left it vacant, showing its devaluation of these organizations, you know you have seen China, stepping into that breach. And I think the World Health Organization senior officials in the civil service, you know really have reasons to look back and say we should have spoken out sooner we should have been more confrontational when China was denying access. We tried the behind the scenes effort to secure access. But at a certain point when that behind the scenes diplomacy isn't working, there is a need in a modern world where the rest of the world is looking to the WHO for its cues to be outspoken and transparent and not try to work everything behind the scenes, particularly with an authoritarian country that itself is likely cooking the books. And so I think, WHO absolutely needs to go back to its timeline and ask itself, whether that could not have been accelerated. It did issue though a global health emergency, you know at the end of January, which gave us in the United States plenty of time, I think, to get our house in order-- not, I shouldn't say plenty of time but but weeks at least to get our house in order, and to take a set of prophylactic and preventive measures. So the timeline is a bit complicated.
GVS: Is that because the nuanced diplomacy, though, where you're trying to sort of nuance, you know the diplomacy with so many issues on the plate?
SP: I mean it's hard right? you've got very very different voices coming at you, but the fact of the matter is, WHO does not have very robust authorities to go beyond what member states will let it do and say. So for example you know many of us are asking why didn't WHO get access, for example, to the lab in Wuhan? Why didn't they get access to China itself far earlier? Answer- it doesn't have the, you know, U.S. Marines to take it into China and to buck Chinese opposition and resistance so it tried to work behind the scenes. I mean I can't imagine what would have happened if the WHO had tried to enter a U.S. lab, if the president of the United States was saying that that access was not permitted. It would be very challenging. So, you know, out of this, we really need to think through how do we vest in an international health organization that is a gathering of member states, the authorities that it needs to do the job when a country is resisting its access? Are there for example, the kinds of sanctions tools or at least diplomatic condemnation tools that, for example the UN Security Council has - does a technocratic health organization need something similar? Or does there need to be a baton passed, for example, to the G7, or to NATO or to the European Union or, you know, -- is it that other countries need to step into the breach when the WHO is getting stonewalled? But right now, you know, it does not have the authority to do much beyond what it did, other than use its voice, and that in for the time being, it needs to use its voice much more forcefully I think than it did.
Fear is what causes people to muzzle concerns that they have about the wisdom of a course of action. It causes people to self silence, it causes, in the case of Wuhan, as we know, you know, public health professionals, not to carry out autopsies, not to test because they didn't want to know the answer to those tests or the verdict of those tests because they didn't want to pass on that information to Beijing because they were worried about the career consequences. I mean if we needed an affirmation. And I think we actually did because of the democracy deficit around the world, and the Human Rights recession that we've been seeing for the better part of a decade, but if we needed an affirmation of the importance of transparency, of accountable governance, of trust, of legitimacy, of teams of rivals, of dissent, you know, there, there are plenty of reminders that have come out of these, these last couple months. And unfortunately because of our own polarization Greta at home, and for other reasons, in particular decisions that were made by particularl individuals, we're not offering in the United States, a flagship example for the world of a model democracy you know kind of quenching this virus in real time. But there are plenty of other democracies that are, that are performing, you know, very very admirably and and from which I hope people see again the importance of having trust in leadership, technocratic expertise like in New Zealand, like in Germany, like in the Republic of Korea, you know, just a stone's throw away from a regime of terror. You have a government that managed to put in place, one of the most robust testing apparatuses that we've seen all around the globe, and thus has had way more success than so many other countries that have deployed even more resources at quenching this this virus. so I hope that we can see again the challenges that some democracies have faced and and usually those stem from a lack of unity and political division really impeding the kind of solidarity that we need at a time like this, but also see just how easily many democracies have performed, and and try to take the best of those responses as we look ahead to the future. And those lessons apply well beyond the national security space.
COVID-19 Fast Facts:
This is a special presentation of Voice of America.
Wash your hands with soap and water – before you eat, after using the toilet, after touching anything many other people touch like a seat on a public bus. Scrub thoroughly for 20 seconds. If you cannot wash your hands, use a hand sanitizer. Taking these steps can prevent not only coronavirus but also colds and flu and other viruses.
VOA – A free press matters.
((Greta))
As we look to the future to see what worked and what did not, it is important to look at the valiant efforts of volunteers and those who had to work risking their lives, sacrificing their safety and the safety of their families to help complete strangers.
VOA’s Carolyn Presutti met one doctor who moved far from his family to help build a field hospital in the American epicenter of the pandemic.
((On the Frontlines by Carolyn Presutti))
((Narrator))
This is Mike Wilson at home. This is Dr. Wilson at work.
In Texas, he and his wife care for their seven children.
In New York City, he cares for hundreds of patients.
((Dr. Michael Wilson, Medical Director))
“This is like our Super Bowl if I had to say, you know, we spend a lot of time in our career taking care of, you know, maybe some runny noses and sprained ankles and that kind of stuff. But this is the thing that we really trained to do.”
((NARRATOR))
So when he saw coronavirus videos like this, he knew he had to fly to New York to be on the front lines.
((Dr. Michael Wilson, Medical Director))
“I wanted my children to know that when whatever it is in their lifetime -- that no matter what your politics are, what your religious beliefs are, whatever -- when the balloon goes up and the nation issues a call to help, you don't just sit there.”
((NARRATOR))
Wilson helped build his hospital from scratch. It’s a bit unsettling for patients who enter a New York field hospital assembled inside a ship, a convention center, or a sports stadium.
Wilson also had to adapt when his first 25 patients spoke five different languages.
((Dr. Michael Wilson, Medical Director))
“These are people from the near and the Far East. They are dialects of, you know, Muslim countries that I've ever heard of. So just such a vast, rich culture.”
((NARRATOR))
He says doctors now better understand the path of the virus with the crucial time being its 5th-8th day. Dr. Wilson agrees the curve is flattening, but he worries that big cities may open too soon, and a second wave of sickness will shut down the country again.
((Dr. Michael Wilson, Medical Director))
“The medical surgical floors are so full of patients who are on ventilators. Like there's nobody without a tube up there. The cafeterias are still, you know, housing patients. Yeah, the ERs aren't full anymore and, you know, the waiting rooms are probably desolate, but there's still the infrastructure of in the hospital is still on, to some degree itself is on life support. It can’t function as a hospital anymore. It’s just a COVID center.”
((NARRATOR))
Video care packages sent from home keep him strong. Wilson is in his fourth week of 14-hour shifts without a single day off. He keeps grounded by participating in family routines from his hotel room, not knowing when he will see his home again.
((Dr. Michael Wilson, Medical Director))
“I FaceTime with the babies. We do story time. I spend some time with the older kids in the evening or read our scriptures. We say our family prayers and then once they go to bed, before I go to bed, I spend some time with my wife.”
((NARRATOR))
What’s Dr. Wilson miss the most? Human touch. He has not touched another human being without a glove on for 24 days.
((Carolyn Presutti, VOA News))
((Greta))
That is all the time we have for this edition of Plugged In.
We will continue to follow this crisis.
But for the latest updates visit our website: at VOANews.com.
And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Greta.
Thank you for being Plugged In.
See you again next week!
