Viewpoints: Chaos and crisis - Why America is losing the battle with Covid-19

The escalating crisis in Texas show how the chronic underfunding of public health has given the US  the worst coronavirus response in the developed world, writes  Jeneen Interlandi

A medical staff member rests in front of a fan in the Covid-19 intensive care unit at the United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas. Picture: Go Nakamura/Getty Images

In the early days of May, Umair Shah, director of the public-health department in Harris County, Texas, was feeling hopeful. 

It looked as if his county might succeed in controlling the coronavirus outbreak. The number of new cases per day had plummeted to an average of about 50 from a peak of 239 in early April, and it was holding steady. On the charts that Shah studied on his computer each morning, the uptick — a mountain that had been rising into existence for weeks — had given way to a plateau.