Over a million Americans died from Covid-19. Public health officials, faced with conditions not experienced in nearly a century, made mistakes. As a result, experts in a wide range of fields lost their credibility; to Donald Trump and his followers, any anonymous guy on the internet selling snake oil has as much claim to be an expert as someone with genuine credentials. Was this an elite failure?
Yes, but with some reservations. First, the federal government and the CDC were dealing with imperfect information in real time, so it is hardly surprising that they made mistakes. Second, the American experience was not unique. Third, the system succeeded in creating vaccines in record time in response to the pandemic. It isn’t the fault of the experts that foolish people refused to take them.