Why the U.S. Wasn’t Ready for the Coronavirus

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 11 March 2020

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Developing a strategy for testing was supposed to be a relatively simple part of preparing for the coronavirus in the United States. So what went wrong? Guests: Sheri Fink, a correspondent for The Times reporting on global public health, and Dr. Helen Y. Chu, an infectious disease expert in Seattle. Dr. Chu was part of a research project that tried to conduct early tests for the coronavirus but failed to obtain state and federal support.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Background reading: During the early days of the outbreak, when containment would have been easier, the federal government missed a series of chances to ensure more widespread testing.After weeks of playing down the potential effects of the coronavirus, President Trump proposed an emergency relief package to bolster the economy — one that has been met by bipartisan opposition.The number of known U.S. cases of coronavirus infection has passed 1,000, with the virus found in every region of the country. Universities continue to close classrooms. Here are the latest updates on the outbreak.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the New York Times, I'm Michael Babaro. This is the Daily.
0:09.0	Today,
0:12.0	it was supposed to be a relatively simple part of preparing for the coronavirus in the United States.
0:19.0	Testing for it.
0:21.0	My colleague, Sherry Fick, on what went wrong?
0:32.0	It's Wednesday, March 11th.
0:39.0	So, in 2018, it was the hundredth anniversary of the terrible 1918 flu pandemic.
0:46.0	This was called the Spanish flu, and it just killed millions and millions of people around the world.
0:51.0	So, on the hundredth year anniversary, many gatherings were held to discuss the lessons of that flu pandemic for today.
0:59.0	And there was this one gathering of high-level people in Atlanta, Georgia, where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is based.
1:07.0	And among the officials there was a group from the National Security Council.
1:12.0	It had actually been created a special unit on global health security that was created after that terrible Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
1:20.0	So, let's begin with you, Dr. Morgan.
1:23.0	So, one of the officials with that group, with that unit.
1:26.0	It's a pleasure to be here with so many of my colleagues, and we've been working together for more than a decade on these issues.
1:32.0	She steps up to the podium, and she says,
1:35.0	The threat of pandemic flu is our number one health security concern.
1:42.0	We know that it cannot be stopped at the border.
1:45.0	So, this is a pretty senior health official on the National Security Council warning her colleagues that there is a very predictable threat here, a pandemic flu.
1:55.0	And...
1:57.0	Are we ready to respond to a pandemic?
2:00.0	A few of the answer is no.
	...

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