So, the outgoing POTUS is to blame for the US Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic, eh?\u00a0 Well, if you listen to the media – and at least one regular commenter here at TAH – that\u2019s the droning, monotonous drumbeat you\u2019ll hear.\u00a0 But recently discovered medical evidence coupled with independent analysis of events indicates that assessment to be . . . well, highly questionable if not pretty much complete bullsh!t.<\/p>\n
Instead, it appears that both China and the WHO share the majority of the blame for the outbreak worldwide.\u00a0 And it also appears that a US epidemic might have been inevitable, regardless of anything we did.<\/p>\n
The Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic’s origin and early response activities were recently analyzed by an independent body:\u00a0 the Switzerland-based Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response. Here are two quotes from an article summarizing their report<\/a><\/em> (emphasis added below).<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is clear to the panel is that public health measures could have been applied more forcefully by local and national health authorities in China in January (2020)<\/span>,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n The first cases in Wuhan occurred between December 12 and December 29, 2019 according to city authorities. The cases weren\u2019t reported to WHO until December 31<\/span>. By the time Wuhan went under lockdown on January 23, 2020<\/span> the virus had already spread to Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and the United States.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And the second quote of interest \u2013 which points out the WHO\u2019s delay afterwards:<\/p>\n Despite being alerted to the cases before the end of December, 2019 WHO did not convene its emergency committee until January 22, 2020<\/span> \u2014 and then waited until January 30<\/span> before declaring an international emergency.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In fact, it wasn\u2019t until over a month later \u2013 on 11 March 2020<\/a><\/em> \u2013 that the WHO opted to declare the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.<\/p>\n That means that the PRC kept mum about the issue for around 3 weeks after the virus was identified in Wuhan\u2019s general population before notifying anyone in the rest of the world that there might be a problem.\u00a0 The first few weeks are a critical period in containing the outbreak of any communicable disease – in this case, a new and deadly one.<\/p>\n That also means as much as six weeks passed between the \u201cfirst known\u201d case of the virus in Wuhan and the PRC\u2019s lockdown of Wuhan on 23 January 2021.\u00a0 (See note below for reason that \u201cfirst known\u201d is in quotations.)\u00a0 It also means that the PRC waited over 3 weeks to lockdown Wuhan after determining that person-to-person spread was likely occurring.\u00a0 By then, as noted above the virus had already spread to the US and several other countries.<\/p>\n The WHO delayed taking any form of emergency action for more than 3 weeks after the PRC had notified them of the outbreak, and another week before actually declaring an emergency.\u00a0 And even on 29 February 2020 \u2013 a full month after the outgoing POTUS had ordered restrictions on travel from the PRC to the US \u2013 the WHO was taking this position regarding trade and travel bans<\/a><\/em>:<\/p>\n WHO continues to advise against the application of travel or trade restrictions to countries experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n FWIW:\u00a0 that also seems to be the current<\/em> WHO position on trade and travel restrictions as well.\u00a0 I can\u2019t find anything later on the subject from WHO than that 29 February 2020 guidance.<\/p>\n Yeah, in hindsight the US response to the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak wasn\u2019t perfect and could possibly have been handled differently (though as it turns out, that might have made little or no difference; see the note below).\u00a0 But like giving credit, it’s only right to place blame where blame is due.\u00a0 And the PRC\u2019s and WHO\u2019s slow responses here appear to be overwhelmingly responsible for allowing what should have been at worst a regional issue confined to a limited area in China to instead become an uncontrollable worldwide pandemic.\u00a0 IMO 90+% of the blame for the worldwide pandemic (and its resulting deaths and other hardships) falls directly on them.<\/p>\n Oh, and if in the past you’ve argued against<\/i> mandatory quarantines during the last West African Ebola outbreak as being “unnecessary”\u2013 how about you simply stay silent and spare the rest of us your hypocrisy today.\u00a0 With 30-80% mortality and with no effective vaccine or widely available effective curative therapy, Ebola literally has the capability to destroy a nation.\u00a0 With an apparent mortality rate (as of 17 January 2021) of less than 2%<\/a> <\/em>\u00a0and an effective vaccine presently being distributed, this latest \u201cgift\u201d from the PRC doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n —–<\/p>\n Author\u2019s Note<\/u>:\u00a0 There’s a reason \u201cfirst known\u201d is in quotations above.\u00a0 That’s because it apparently was not anywhere near the first US case of the Wuhan Coronavirus.\u00a0 New test data indicates that the virus arrived in the US far earlier than that.
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