The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) claims that the American public does not need to fear the recent hantavirus outbreak, but the public remains unconvinced. As President Donald Trump’s executive branch takes unprecedented steps away from expertise and caution, governmental departments lose their stabilizing trustworthiness.
Despite the federal government’s frequent assurances, news sources in the U.S. have kept up near-constant coverage of the outbreak, including the containment procedures both at home and abroad. NBC News and NPR post updates almost daily, occasionally releasing two to three articles on the hantavirus outbreak within hours of each other; AP News has an entire page on its website dedicated to the disease. The frequency of the coverage, both on official news sites and independent social media accounts, indicate significant public and professional fears of the virus.
In other countries, there does not seem to be such a strong disconnect between the government’s confident press briefings and the people’s unsettled peace. In Italy, in spite of lasting trauma from prior disease outbreaks, citizens still managed to reach relative calm after standard government communications and tests. In countries that are still members of the World Health Organization, citizens are confident that their government has updated information and resources. Conversely, public health experts in America worry that the U.S. is uninformed or failing to try new emergency treatments.
Whether the hantavirus is truly a threat or not, it seems Americans are suffering from a deeper issue: They do not trust their government to competently handle the situation. This mistrust likely stems from the first Trump administration’s failure to contain the impact of COVID-19.
During the 2020 pandemic, the Trump administration handled lockdowns and medical resource droughts with startling inadequacy. For example, the federal government chose to condemn state policies that closed religious buildings. It also cut off funding in New York in response to civic protests, despite the state’s medical shortages and high death toll. The administration even recommended that people consume or inject bleach into their bodies, resulting in widespread health issues. Nobody wants to repeat such a mismanaged governmental response.
While the CDC does seem to be addressing hantavirus more professionally than COVID-19, other officials are not maintaining the same professionalism for healthcare as a whole. Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. infamously condemned childhood vaccines while measles spread in South Carolina. Meanwhile, the White House website has a new page featuring unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about China and former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci. Trump has also fired national health professionals with startling partisanship, beginning an openly anti-research agenda.
The country’s trust in the health sector has degraded across partisan lines. Those who agree with Trump share his suspicion of health professionals, resisting quarantine policies like masking and social distancing. Conversely, those who oppose the president likely mistrust the current makeup of governmental health departments. The destabilizing effect of this mistrust is already clear — while no outbreak has occurred, news outlets are noting increasing panic and magazines are trying to calm terrified readers.
Viruses are an understandable sore spot for the post-pandemic world, but such uncontrollable anxiety may also be a symptom of larger problems within the U.S. Since 2016, there has been a generalized loss of trust in the government’s ability to protect its people. Concerns about voter representation have spiked in the past year, while police officers and I.C.E. agents continue to create racialized fear. The executive branch seems to be embracing nondemocratic war operations. Even air traffic accidents and drug approval concerns imply that the government cannot care for citizens at a rudimentary level.
It is painfully evident that American society is in a fragile state. Hesitation and mistrust is deepening the rift between officials and the people they are meant to protect. In essence, paranoia has replaced the foundational trust that allowed democracy to act with speed and unity.
Even if hantavirus is not itself a threat, there is an alarming distrust between the U.S. government and its citizens. There must be extensive reparative work to heal these government-citizen relationships. That work must be prioritized before a real crisis begins and the country is caught unprepared.
Ruby Goodwin is an Opinion Staff Writer. She can be reached at regoodwi@uci.edu.
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