As if we needed more proof that the coronavirus outbreak is rooted in staggering incompetence at the highest levels, here comes more evidence from Reuters. In an exclusive report, Reuters revealed that last year, the Trump administration eliminated a post for a Centers for Disease Control expert whose specific job was to detect outbreaks in China.
Linda Quick, who was embedded with the Chinese disease control agency and was training field epidemiologists who go out into the field to track and contain diseases at the source. Funding for her post was to be lined out as of last September, and she left her post in July.
The significance?
“It was heartbreaking to watch,” said Bao-Ping Zhu, a Chinese American who served in that role, which was funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 2007 and 2011. “If someone had been there, public health officials and governments across the world could have moved much faster.”
We can go better than that. Remember, this outbreak mushroomed when local officials in Wuhan tried to cover up a sudden outbreak of pnuemonia-like cases in December—which we now know was the onset of coronavirus. If we’d had someone down there in the field, we would have been able to get information out in real time. And we almost certainly would have had enough time to prepare.
When I saw this crawl across a friend’s wall, I thought this was snark. All this talk about a “Chinese virus,” and yet we eliminated a post for someone who was ON THE $%&@ GROUND and could have spotted the onset of this thing? Incredible.
Let there be no doubt—this tragedy can be laid squarely at the feet of the White House.