I want to commend the Eagle for publishing the editorial by Trudy Rubin of the Philadelphia Inquirer on July 2.

There was a very strong message comparing the COVID-19 response of Japan to the USA response. Being educated as an engineer, I am used to comparing items against a measurable benchmark.

All too often, I hear Trump/Pence self-evaluating the USA performance as great. When you compare the results with metrics, it is very clear that the Trump/Pence response was “horrific” if not the worst in all the world.

We know the big and growing USA COVID-19 numbers; Japan only had 18,714 cases and 974 deaths with a population of about one-third of the USA. All of us are used to applying letter grades to performance (and not self-praise); it is clear that Trump/Pence got an F- compared to Japan’s A+.

There was also a strong message supporting masks as key to Japan’s success story. In the USA, we are faced with a very strong second wave of COVID-19; comparably Japan was able to reopen their vibrant economy on May 31.