[fullmetal]

Much of the CDC's strategy for dealing with novel pathogens of zoonotic infections has hinged on early detection and containment at the source (hence the CDC's global presence).  This is not a bad thing.  Unfortunately, recent federal policy defunded, deprioritized, and all but eliminated that capability. 

It may be argued that even with the forward-deployed CDC and national security assets that SARS-CoV-2 would have made its way to US shores anyway, but even in that situation, we would probably have been much better prepared (testing, tracing, etc.) than we actually were.  The ability of the virus to spread through asymptomatic transmission exploits American notions of personal responsibility and individual exceptionalism, and the backlash against public health measures has been counterproductive to say the least.

The CDC hasn't had to deal with a novel direct-contact disease since H1N1 afaik, and that response was brilliant compared to the muck-up that we have today: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resourc...eline.html.  There was less than a month between first detected case to global shipments of tests.  It was about six months from first detected case to first deployed vaccine doses.

[fullmetal]

Much of the CDC's strategy for dealing with novel pathogens of zoonotic infections has hinged on early detection and containment at the source (hence the CDC's global presence).  This is not a bad thing.  Unfortunately, recent federal policy defunded, deprioritized, and all but eliminated that capability. 

It may be argued that even with the forward-deployed CDC and national security assets that SARS-CoV-2 would have made its way to US shores anyway, but even in that situation, we would probably have been much better prepared (testing, tracing, etc.) than we actually were.  The ability of the virus to spread through asymptomatic transmission exploits American notions of personal responsibility and individual exceptionalism, and the backlash against public health measures has been counterproductive to say the least.

The CDC hasn't had to deal with a novel direct-contact disease since H1N1 afaik, and that response was brilliant compared to the muck-up that we have today: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resourc...eline.html.  There was less than a month between first detected case to global shipments of tests.  It was about six months from first detected case to first deployed vaccine doses.