[magnus]

Compare their initial communications to the world to what (I hope) would we would have done if the virus and initial infections had originated here.

 I'm not too confident we would have been all that honest initially either.  Probably depends on the circumstances with which the virus were discovered.   One excuse likely given is that sometimes we try to balance complete honesty against all out pandemonium.

[magnus]

Compare their initial communications to the world to what (I hope) would we would have done if the virus and initial infections had originated here.

 I'm not too confident we would have been all that honest initially either.  Probably depends on the circumstances with which the virus were discovered.   One excuse likely given is that sometimes we try to balance complete honesty against all out pandemonium.