White House responsible for at least 130,000 COVID-19 deaths: study

A report from Columbia University on COVID-19 deaths has blamed the White House for its officials' unwillingness to improve the federal response over the course of the pandemic which could have avoided the death of at least 130,000 Americans.

So far, the US has reported 8,585,748 coronavirus cases and 227,419 deaths. The US currently has the 9th highest proportional mortality rate globally with some 66 deaths per 100,000 population.

“We believe that this was a monumental, lethal screwup by an administration that didn’t want to deal with reality.” The lead author on the study and the founding director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Dr Irwin Redlener told the Daily Beast.

In their study, researchers compared the coronavirus response of the US to that of South Korea, Japan, Australia, Germany, Canada, France, Thailand, Pakistan and other countries. The report found that America's response to the pandemic rated unfavorably against them all.

In comparison, the US's fatality rate is more than double that of Canada and if the US had followed Canadian policies, 'there might have only been 85,192 US deaths, making more than 132,500 American deaths avoidable', the report said.

The report has blamed the country's insufficient testing and 'woefully inadequate' contact tracing for the significantly higher COVID-19 mortality rate. The study has also blamed the government's failure to implement a national mask mandate.

According to Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Robert Kadlec at the Department of Health and Human Services, thousands of lives could have been saved if the White House had approved the distribution of over six million masks that were prepared for delivery in late February.

"We had very misguided leadership that chose to berate the purveyors of masks and social distancing. The president himself became a superspreader. He has blood on his hands,” Redlener said.

The report also expressed doubt that science-based policies will prevail with Trump as president given his continued attacks on science and government scientists.

A pandemic is not a time for a decentralized and combative national response. It requires strong leadership and coordination across states towards a common purpose of defeating the threat with the might of the whole nation, the study concluded.