6 ms·

> we're only testing people returning from China or from the cruise ship Missing from the discussion is the whole debacle around the HHS staff that was sent to

> we're only testing people returning from China or from the cruise ship Missing from the discussion is the whole debacle around the HHS staff that was sent to check the repatriated American citizens from Wuhan, who had no protection, were not trained, and were released back into the general public without further monitoring.

mc32 7y ago
Like why didn't they send people who had a few years ago dealt with Ebola. It's not like we didn't have people who went over there to help or people who treated infected people stateside --granted Ebola transmission is different but you still need PPE, but people know the protocol in practice, not just reading about how to wear PPE.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- joezydeco 7y ago
  Those people were fired by the Trump administration in 2018. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-fire-pandemic-team/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-fire-pandemic-team/
  - JohnJamesRambo 7y ago
    It's like I'm living in a simulation or the movie Idiocracy and I desperately want out.
    - asdf21 7y ago
      Hope you have plenty of guns to kill the zombies
  - addicted 7y ago
    Not sure why you’re being downvoted because that’s the exactly correct answer. The previous administration converted the highly successful infrastructure they built up while responding to the Ebola virus into permanent infrastructure which was quickly dismantled by the current administration.
    - throwaway2048 7y ago
      Because any suggestion that somehow politics and politicians are directly responsible for bad shit gets instantly down voted to oblivion on HN.
    - masonic 7y ago
      It could be because he is misrepresenting the content of the article. Quoting: "funding for the CDC’s global disease outbreak prevention efforts had been reduced by 80%, including funding for the agency’s efforts in China. But that was the result of the anticipated depletion of previously allotted funding, not a direct cut by the Trump administration. Since January 2019, actual funding (vs. requested/proposed funding) is controlled by the House leadership of the opposition party.
      - throwaway2048 7y ago
        how exactly is it controlled by the "House leadership of the opposition party." when bills need to pass the senate too, and the republicans are flat out refusing to pass anything.
        masonic 7y ago
        All spending bills originate in the House.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
melling 7y ago
This is discussed in the NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/us/politics/coronavirus-us-whistleblower.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/us/politics/coronavirus-u...
- eli 7y ago
  It was in fact broken by the Times and it is an inside source talking to their reporter that we know it happened.
  - zaroth 7y ago
    Actually the Washington Post broke the story (according to the AP). According to the Washington Post, the people from the CDC who interacted with the quarantined patients all had full protective gear. Allegedly there were social workers from HHS also sent to help assist who were not trained in how to don full gear and so were wearing just masks and gloves. Note this all happened back at the end of January. So it seems unlikely that anyone was actually exposed, unless you think that there are HHS workers who got sick and it was kept out of the news.
    - pulisse 7y ago
      > So it seems unlikely that anyone was actually exposed, unless you think that there are HHS workers who got sick and it was kept out of the news. That doesn't follow, both because the incubation period is now thought to be as long as 28 days and because infected individuals can be asymptomatic.
      - zaroth 7y ago
        Clinical Characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in China A study of 1,099 patients with laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 from 552 hospitals in 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China through January 29, 2020. "The median incubation period was 4 days (interquartile range, 2 to 7)." New England Journal of Medicine, Feb 28, 2020 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2002032 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2002032
three_seagrass 7y ago
This is also in part because the White House fired the CDC Pandemic Response Unit and cut their funding in 2018.
- ineedasername 7y ago
  I'm not saying I don't believe something was cut, but I can't find an official CDC reference to something called "pandemic response unit" Edit: I found reference to various leadership positions that would help respond to a pandemic be eliminated or left vacant [0], though I think that says something a bit different (still bad though) than the entire US pandemic response capability, or "unit", being axed. [0]https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-fire-pandemic-team/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-fire-pandemic-team/
  - 1986 7y ago
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/05/10/top-white-house-official-in-charge-of-pandemic-response-exits-abruptly/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/0...
  - RVuRnvbM2e 7y ago
    > The top White House official responsible for leading the U.S. response in the event of a deadly pandemic has left the administration, and the global health security team he oversaw has been disbanded under a reorganization by national security adviser John Bolton. Not sure how much more explicit that 2018 WaPo article can be.
    - ineedasername 7y ago
      From what I can tell though, that was more of an oversight team at the NSC level though, not the actual CDC folks or HHS folks that would really be dealing with this stuff. Again, I'm not saying that isn't bad, but it's not the same as saying the "pandemic response unit" was disbanded, which doesn't seem to be the official name of any actual unit, and it's a phrase that seems to imply that all of our pandemic response capabilities were dismantled. They weren't.

mc32 7y ago

Like why didn't they send people who had a few years ago dealt with Ebola. It's not like we didn't have people who went over there to help or people who treated infected people stateside --granted Ebola transmission is different but you still need PPE, but people know the protocol in practice, not just reading about how to wear PPE.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
joezydeco 7y ago
Those people were fired by the Trump administration in 2018. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-fire-pandemic-team/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-fire-pandemic-team/
- JohnJamesRambo 7y ago
  It's like I'm living in a simulation or the movie Idiocracy and I desperately want out.
  - asdf21 7y ago
    Hope you have plenty of guns to kill the zombies
- addicted 7y ago
  Not sure why you’re being downvoted because that’s the exactly correct answer. The previous administration converted the highly successful infrastructure they built up while responding to the Ebola virus into permanent infrastructure which was quickly dismantled by the current administration.
  - throwaway2048 7y ago
    Because any suggestion that somehow politics and politicians are directly responsible for bad shit gets instantly down voted to oblivion on HN.
  - masonic 7y ago
    It could be because he is misrepresenting the content of the article. Quoting: "funding for the CDC’s global disease outbreak prevention efforts had been reduced by 80%, including funding for the agency’s efforts in China. But that was the result of the anticipated depletion of previously allotted funding, not a direct cut by the Trump administration. Since January 2019, actual funding (vs. requested/proposed funding) is controlled by the House leadership of the opposition party.
    - throwaway2048 7y ago
      how exactly is it controlled by the "House leadership of the opposition party." when bills need to pass the senate too, and the republicans are flat out refusing to pass anything.
      - masonic 7y ago
        All spending bills originate in the House.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

melling 7y ago

This is discussed in the NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/us/politics/coronavirus-us-whistleblower.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/us/politics/coronavirus-u...

eli 7y ago
It was in fact broken by the Times and it is an inside source talking to their reporter that we know it happened.
- zaroth 7y ago
  Actually the Washington Post broke the story (according to the AP). According to the Washington Post, the people from the CDC who interacted with the quarantined patients all had full protective gear. Allegedly there were social workers from HHS also sent to help assist who were not trained in how to don full gear and so were wearing just masks and gloves. Note this all happened back at the end of January. So it seems unlikely that anyone was actually exposed, unless you think that there are HHS workers who got sick and it was kept out of the news.
  - pulisse 7y ago
    > So it seems unlikely that anyone was actually exposed, unless you think that there are HHS workers who got sick and it was kept out of the news. That doesn't follow, both because the incubation period is now thought to be as long as 28 days and because infected individuals can be asymptomatic.
    - zaroth 7y ago
      Clinical Characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in China A study of 1,099 patients with laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 from 552 hospitals in 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China through January 29, 2020. "The median incubation period was 4 days (interquartile range, 2 to 7)." New England Journal of Medicine, Feb 28, 2020 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2002032 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2002032

three_seagrass 7y ago

This is also in part because the White House fired the CDC Pandemic Response Unit and cut their funding in 2018.

ineedasername 7y ago
I'm not saying I don't believe something was cut, but I can't find an official CDC reference to something called "pandemic response unit" Edit: I found reference to various leadership positions that would help respond to a pandemic be eliminated or left vacant [0], though I think that says something a bit different (still bad though) than the entire US pandemic response capability, or "unit", being axed. [0]https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-fire-pandemic-team/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-fire-pandemic-team/
- 1986 7y ago
  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/05/10/top-white-house-official-in-charge-of-pandemic-response-exits-abruptly/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/0...
- RVuRnvbM2e 7y ago
  > The top White House official responsible for leading the U.S. response in the event of a deadly pandemic has left the administration, and the global health security team he oversaw has been disbanded under a reorganization by national security adviser John Bolton. Not sure how much more explicit that 2018 WaPo article can be.
  - ineedasername 7y ago
    From what I can tell though, that was more of an oversight team at the NSC level though, not the actual CDC folks or HHS folks that would really be dealing with this stuff. Again, I'm not saying that isn't bad, but it's not the same as saying the "pandemic response unit" was disbanded, which doesn't seem to be the official name of any actual unit, and it's a phrase that seems to imply that all of our pandemic response capabilities were dismantled. They weren't.