Less than two weeks before the American elections, a new documentary entitled "Totally Under Control" was released, presenting the crisis of the spread of the Corona virus in America from the beginning of this year until the day President Donald Trump announced his infection with the virus at the beginning of this month, and how his administration failed In containing the crisis by claiming that everything is under control.
Two worlds parallel
The story began on January 20, 2020, when it recorded the first infection with the Coronavirus in Seattle, Washington, DC, the same day that the first case was also recorded in South Korea, but there is a difference between the two countries' response to stop the epidemic, as Korea chose to save its people and its economy While the US administration underestimated the virus and its danger.
"The matter is completely under control, it is only one person coming from China, it is under our control and it will be fine," Trump said confidently during a press interview on CNBC, two days after the first case was revealed in America. So, the priority here is politics and power, and there is no room for knowledge or specialists.
The matter was not under control, as little knowledge of viruses and epidemics says that discovering one case means that there are other cases that have not yet been discovered, and action must be taken as soon as possible, but the government did not pay any attention to the matter, and the virus continued to spread.
nightmare
After two weeks of ignoring the crisis, the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began distributing tests to detect the Corona virus throughout the country, but after distributing them it became clear that part of them does not work, and 99% of American laboratories have tests that do not work .
And the government issued a decision to stop using the tests with no solution to the crisis or an alternative plan, which was described by Scott Baker, executive director of the American Public Health Laboratory Association, as a "nightmare," and he continued, saying, "We have never seen such a failure before."
"Mr. Gibney and his colleagues provide analysis and context, a world view of a world-shattering event."
@WSJ
TOTALLY UNDER CONTROL is now available to watch on Apple TV.
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- Totally Under Control (@undercontrolmov) October 19, 2020
With the number of injuries reaching 15 injuries, Trump confirmed - during a press conference at the White House - that "we have 15 injured, and the 15 infected will decrease to zero within two days, and this is a very good thing," comparing the Corona crisis with the flu that kills from 25 thousand to 69 thousand people annually.
While Trump was on his trip to India repeating his sentence "Everything is under control", Nancy Messonnier - head of immunization at CDC - stated that the spread of the virus in the country is inevitable, and that this may require closing schools and companies and means a heavy blow to the economy American.
The government issued its plan upon Trump's return to the country to use the disabled tests a month after they were stopped, in order to detect and track the virus to control the crisis, so there is no way to harm the economy on which Trump relies as his center of strength in order to win a second term.
Counter advertising
On February 28, 2020, Trump accused Democrats of trying to politicize the virus for use in counter-propaganda, and he boasted that there were no deaths in America due to the Corona virus for his supporters to applaud, but the next morning the first death was announced, with expectations that the matter would worsen in the following days.
As a result of the negligence with which the US government dealt with the crisis for nearly two months, the medical sector warned of an explosion in the number of people infected with the Coronavirus, with the lack of personal protective equipment necessary to protect the medical staff facing the epidemic in the first rows.
To solve this crisis, Trump enlisted the help of Jared Kushner, son of his daughter Ivanka, who in turn decided to use a team of young volunteers to work without pay 7 days a week, according to the documentary.
And Max Kennedy - one of those volunteers - testified in the documentary to reveal the government's failure, and even its exploitation, by saying, "We thought we would be support, but we found that we are the same team."
Kennedy resigned from the task force last April, then sent an anonymous complaint to Congress detailing the incompetence of the task force, in breach of an agreement he signed not to disclose any information during his work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"Exhaustive, definitive and infuriating."
@thedailybeast
TOTALLY UNDER CONTROL is available on-demand now.
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- Totally Under Control (@undercontrolmov) October 16, 2020
Results
Now, 9 months after the announcement of the first case of Corona, the virus has killed about 210 thousand Americans, and caused terrible economic damage, while the number of deaths in South Korea has reached only 420, in a country with a population of 51 million people.
The film was directed, written and produced by Oscar-winning Alex Gibney, an Emmy and a Grammy, and was filmed in the strictest confidence for the past four months, and includes interviews with 17 public health experts, White House workers, medical professionals, and even the ranks of young volunteers. .