[Goose]

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

There is a third possibility, which is what I think actually is the dominant issue. The CDC deployed people to other nations to provide expertise in SARS, Ebola, Zika. I believe the CDC basically abandoned the idea that they had to be a primary force in the USA, because all the things they have done recently (last 15 years at least) were advising/responding in other nations. H1N1 was a bit different, but was relatively "easy", thus victory disease. The idea that we would ever have a major "event" in the US just dropped off their radar. It hadn't ever really happened in living memory. Africa yes, Asia yes, the middle east yes. Here, no, so don't worry much about it. No point in figuring out how to set up mass testing in the US, because we will be doing it in Liberia, not here. The CDC is still composed of highly competent people, but those people were not focused on the USA.

[Goose]

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

There is a third possibility, which is what I think actually is the dominant issue. The CDC deployed people to other nations to provide expertise in SARS, Ebola, Zika. I believe the CDC basically abandoned the idea that they had to be a primary force in the USA, because all the things they have done recently (last 15 years at least) were advising/responding in other nations. H1N1 was a bit different, but was relatively "easy", thus victory disease. The idea that we would ever have a major "event" in the US just dropped off their radar. It hadn't ever really happened in living memory. Africa yes, Asia yes, the middle east yes. Here, no, so don't worry much about it. No point in figuring out how to set up mass testing in the US, because we will be doing it in Liberia, not here. The CDC is still composed of highly competent people, but those people were not focused on the USA.