The United States finds itself once more confronting a major natural disaster, albeit one on a scale not experienced since the flu pandemic of 1918. Factors contributing to the crisis are the obvious lack of preparedness on the part of government and the notable absence of coherent decision-making processes for quarantine protocols and the distribution of financial stimulus packages. Add to that the billions of dollars fruitlessly spent on pandemic planning over the past 15 years and endless future congressional inquiries are guaranteed. ¶ Predictably, the inquiries will be framed as they were after the bungled government response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005: “How could this have happened in America, and what is our government obliged to do to make sure that nothing like this national nightmare ever happens again?” The foregone conclusion will be the same: “We failed at all levels of government to meet that fundamental obligation.” Just as inevitably, the inquiries will fail to answer the more fundamental set of questions about the government's and the American people's respective roles and responsibilities in managing risk in the face of disaster.

中文翻译：

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在危机期间管理风险和责任：COVID-19 大流行再次引发了有关灾难发生时政府角色的问题 - [Spectral Lines]

美国再次面临一场重大自然灾害，尽管规模自 1918 年流感大流行以来从未经历过。导致这场危机的因素是政府明显缺乏准备，而且明显缺乏连贯的决策- 隔离协议的制定过程和财政刺激计划的分发。再加上过去 15 年来在大流行病计划上徒劳无功的数十亿美元，以及未来无休止的国会调查得到保证。¶ 可以预见的是，在 2005 年政府对卡特里娜飓风做出糟糕的反应之后，调查将被框定：“这怎么可能发生在美国，我们的政府有义务做些什么来确保不会再发生这种全国性的噩梦？” 既定的结论将是相同的：“我们各级政府都未能履行这一基本义务。” 同样不可避免的是，这些调查将无法回答关于政府和美国人民在面临灾难时管理风险方面各自的角色和责任的一系列更基本的问题。