Editor's note: Josef Gregory Mahoney is a professor of politics at East China Normal University. The article reflects the author's opinion, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The current crises and their preludes

The immediate witnesses of America's breathtaking collapse are no longer with us. They include the 130,000 plus who have died from COVID-19, including a friend of mine in New York, and they include George Floyd, fighting to breathe and crying for help while choked to death by police in Minneapolis.

As new infections swell, as new hospitalizations surge, as some state health systems are near capacity, as projections of possible new deaths this year exceed another 80,000, public health professionals concede the U.S. is in the midst of a national crisis that has continued to spiral out of control. Meanwhile, the White House insists, contrary to its own experts and scientific data, "there's no problem, everything's getting better, don't worry."

And yet, even Anthony S. Fauci, recognized by many as the leading government expert on the outbreak previously seen at Trump's side, has publicly broken with him. Noting that he's not been asked to brief the president in more than two months, he's also contested Trump's claim that "99 percent of COVID-19 cases are harmless," stating the president conflates statistics.

In the last few days, Fauci has directly repudiated both the president and vice president, who have continued to congratulate themselves for a job well done. Fauci has responded "I don't think you can say we're doing great. I mean, we're just not." And more ominously, "We are living in the perfect storm."

This storm might have come quickly but it has only revealed and exacerbated longstanding and deep-rooted problems in the United States. Before COVID-19, American society was already fractured and struggling to contend with systemic failures, poor governance, and a declining international position. COVID-19 not only made these conditions worse, these conditions also made America's response to COVID-19 worse.

These fractures followed well-documented intersections impossible to exhaustively list here, but including intense political polarization and systemic, institutionalized racism. Further, the U.S. is already in the midst of numerous public health crises including cost and access to care, gun violence, wide-spread opioid addition, the highest rates of mental illness worldwide, and highly prevalent obesity-related diseases, including the highest rate of type-2 diabetes among developed nations, among other concerns.

Nevertheless, Trump had made and continues to make overthrowing the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," colloquially known as Obamacare, one of his key political objectives.

This remains true even though that Republicans acknowledge some healthcare reform was and remains vital, even though they acknowledge an inability to offer a viable alternative, and even though Obamacare provides health services to many enduring the current crisis, including minorities, the working poor, and the unemployed who are most vulnerable to COVID-19.

Additionally, prior to COVID-19, the U.S. enjoyed unsustainable economic growth driven by deleterious low interest rates, an inflated stock market, and historic levels of deficit spending. Trump didn't start these practices, but he championed and deepened them.

Since the outbreak, these weaknesses left the country flatfooted economically, unable to afford let alone seriously attempt effective containment strategies.

With tens of millions having filed for unemployment in the past few months, with many leading firms filing for bankruptcy, with government relief funds expected to lapse for millions this month, with new cases and rising deaths spiking, the economic situation is grave for many and expected to worsen.

Unsafe for children: the canaries of collapse

In some respects, the crisis has touched most directly those least likely to be infected and suffer serious disease. While few infected school-age children die from COVID-19, the danger exists, and is especially present for teachers and staff. Nevertheless, the American Pediatric Association (APA) has concluded that kids should return to school.

This recommendation is not due primarily to the generally poor quality of online education in the U.S., or the apparent lack of preparation over the summer holiday for worse-case scenarios. Consequently, teachers have not been adequately trained and American parents, many of whom are notoriously disengaged from supervising their children's learning, are likewise unprepared. Nor is it due to the fact that many students in low-income communities lack necessary computing and internet resources, although each of these reasons is compelling.

Rather, the APA is concerned that children staying at home face even greater risks than going to school, including increasing cases of depression and suicide from isolation, mounting incidences of physical and sexual abuse from family members, lack of adequate nutrition and exercise, and increasing addiction to social media and other forms of technology, among other concerns.

Consequently, despite the fact that it's still dangerous and logistically impractical to send children back to school this fall, and above all given the concern that America's first COVID-19 wave is still accelerating and likely to worsen when cold weather and normal flu and pneumonia season returns, some schools are trying to offer on-campus teaching in communities that are still under declared states of emergency because doing so offers kids better protection.

Of course, those kids who do return will face the usual concerns of bullying and drills for school shooters. Many will pass through metal detectors and armed police who make sure they aren't carrying weapons. They will be required to eat their meals at the desk, wear masks, and sit six feet apart from each other. Such is safety.

Whatever happens, this COVID-19 generation will remain deeply scarred by these experiences, and likely will be among the first to grow up unable to believe let alone act upon the national mythos of American exceptionalism and superiority.

Part 2: Witnessing America's breathtaking collapse

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