It's a miracle. The AP has actually reported the story of how China suppressed the news of the corona virus and waited to do anything about it. The Chinese lies and cover up allowed a massive spread of the virus with the resulting world wide pandemic.
According to the AP report, from January 5 to January 17, patients by the hundreds were appearing at hospitals in Wuhan and elsewhere in China with the virus. The government, however, not only suppressed news of the outbreak from its own people and the world, but it also did its best to prevent Chinese doctors from reporting the virus as a new disease. In fact, on January 2, the Chinese government arrested and punished certain doctors in Wuhan for "rumor mongering" because they spoke about the threat of the new virus. This punishment was publicized and it silenced the rest of the medical establishment.
Then after the first case of the virus showed up in Thailand on January 13, the Chinese authorities still took no steps to try to stop the spread. They knew that with the New Year celebrations coming within days, millions of Chinese were leaving their homes and travelling across China and the world. This travel was the single most important act in the spreading of the virus into a pandemic.
According to the AP report, had the Chinese told the world of the virus and stopped the major travel for the New Year outside of Wuhan, most of the worldwide pandemic would have been avoided.
This is a truly important report. A major American media outlet is, for once, reporting on a major story without trying to blame President Trump for it. It is also making clear just what a big disaster the Chinese inaction caused.
This story by the AP also makes clear why President Trump cut off funding for the WHO. When the virus first surfaced, the WHO should have sent a team to Wuhan to investigate rather than just relying on the Chinese to do so. The WHO should have determined the facts itself rather than parroting whatever the Chinese said had happened. That is the mission for which the WHO was established. What the world got from the WHO was briefings from a director who actually said in the second half of January that there was no evidence of transmission of the disease from human to human. A ten minute tour of a hospital in Wuhan by someone from the WHO would have made clear that human to human transmission had to be possible; nothing else could explain the levels of disease seen. The WHO, however, just accepted the Chinese propaganda and the world went on having millions of Chinese traveling to other countries and bringing the virus with them.
According to the AP report, from January 5 to January 17, patients by the hundreds were appearing at hospitals in Wuhan and elsewhere in China with the virus. The government, however, not only suppressed news of the outbreak from its own people and the world, but it also did its best to prevent Chinese doctors from reporting the virus as a new disease. In fact, on January 2, the Chinese government arrested and punished certain doctors in Wuhan for "rumor mongering" because they spoke about the threat of the new virus. This punishment was publicized and it silenced the rest of the medical establishment.
Then after the first case of the virus showed up in Thailand on January 13, the Chinese authorities still took no steps to try to stop the spread. They knew that with the New Year celebrations coming within days, millions of Chinese were leaving their homes and travelling across China and the world. This travel was the single most important act in the spreading of the virus into a pandemic.
According to the AP report, had the Chinese told the world of the virus and stopped the major travel for the New Year outside of Wuhan, most of the worldwide pandemic would have been avoided.
This is a truly important report. A major American media outlet is, for once, reporting on a major story without trying to blame President Trump for it. It is also making clear just what a big disaster the Chinese inaction caused.
This story by the AP also makes clear why President Trump cut off funding for the WHO. When the virus first surfaced, the WHO should have sent a team to Wuhan to investigate rather than just relying on the Chinese to do so. The WHO should have determined the facts itself rather than parroting whatever the Chinese said had happened. That is the mission for which the WHO was established. What the world got from the WHO was briefings from a director who actually said in the second half of January that there was no evidence of transmission of the disease from human to human. A ten minute tour of a hospital in Wuhan by someone from the WHO would have made clear that human to human transmission had to be possible; nothing else could explain the levels of disease seen. The WHO, however, just accepted the Chinese propaganda and the world went on having millions of Chinese traveling to other countries and bringing the virus with them.
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