04-08-2020, 02:01 PM
(04-08-2020, 12:56 PM)BostonCard Wrote: The CDC's entire raison d'etre is to respond to these phenomena. That they were caught flatfooted is, in my mind, the most shocking aspect of this. Compare their response to coronavirus to their response to Ebola, SARS, or pandemic influenza, where they were the agency that other countries turned to for advice. One theory is that they were a victim of their own success, and the fact that they were able to lead the worldwide response to those epidemics made them let down their guard. The second possibility is that they are responsive to the broader political environment and just as local leaders in Wuhan tried to quiet reports down because of real or perceived pressure from the central communist party, it is possible that CDC self-censored in order not to openly contradict the President when he publicly minimized the extent of the pandemic. I doubt that there was overt political interference, but people are human and respond to the context into which they are placed.
BC
I think the answer is C: all of the above.