The spread of Coronavirus in the US is not the product of long-standing infrastructure deficits, economic or political choices. This was not the foreseeable result of policy. Americans battled the adversary bravely, but here there were invisible outbreaks, hidden infections. The epidemic spun out of control. This can be contrasted with the German experience — Germans were fortunate to not be faced with invisible outbreaks and their infections were not hidden. The epidemic there proceeded on a straight and narrow path, and, being German, was much less prone to spin out of control.
Civil authorities do not fail to institute social distancing measures, individuals do not fail to observe restrictions — outbreaks just flare. There is nothing you can do about it. No one can see where the virus will go next. The virus goes places. The virus has agency, while we, however, are observers.
