Well thats great. I think we have beaten this to death now. However if you feel like rehashing it, cool. I don;t agree with anything you said....because at the time no one knew anything..ESPEICALLY in the first 70 days, but yeah...hindsight etc etc. All hogwash.
This take seems rational and fact-based. Let's look at actual facts instead:
The Trump administration received its first formal notification of the outbreak of the coronavirus in China on Jan. 3.
WHO made a public announcement regarding the coronavirus on Jan. 9.
The first case in the US was reported on Jan. 21
Wuhan went under quarantine on Jan. 23
WHO issued global health emergency on Jan. 31.
CDC first distributed a test kit on February 6. The CDC has now admitted that it had warnings that the test was flawed and gave inaccurate results. The CDC also points to a lack of guidance for the delay in developing a test.
CDC announces COVID-19 headed toward pandemic status on February 25 (2 of 3 factors met--3rd factor is worldwide spread, which was inevitable).
The Trump administration continued to rely on the knowingly inaccurate test results through the end of February.
A review of federal purchasing contracts by The Associated Press shows federal agencies largely waited until mid-March to begin placing bulk orders of N95 respirator masks, mechanical ventilators and other equipment needed by front-line health care workers.
By that time, hospitals in several states were treating thousands of infected patients without adequate equipment and were pleading for shipments from the Strategic National Stockpile. That federal cache of supplies was created more than 20 years ago to help bridge gaps in the medical and pharmaceutical supply chains during a national emergency.
Trump administration declares national emergency on March 13. 70 days from being briefed by multiple intelligence services on the virus.
70 days in which the administration's only real affirmative action was to join other countries on Feb. 2 in restricting air travel from China--but the restriction was only to avoid a 2 week quarantine. Air travel from China was not shut down. Those allowed to arrive were not subject to quarantine.
Compare to this:
On January 6, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel emailed Barney Graham, a vaccine researcher at the National Institutes of Health. Bancel was troubled by the mysterious virus outbreak in Wuhan. He then talked with Graham about developing a vaccine.
On January 11, researchers from China published the genetic sequence of the coronavirus. Two days later, Moderna's team and NIH scientists had finalized the targeted genetic sequence they would use in the vaccine.
By February 24, Moderna had shipped its first vaccine batches to NIH scientists in Bethesda, Maryland. Researchers administered the first dose on March 16 in Seattle, Washington. That launched the first clinical trial of any coronavirus vaccine.
