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First tested and confirmed case in NYC. There have been numerous reports from NYC residents who returned from areas with community spread, got sick, tested nega

First tested and confirmed case in NYC. There have been numerous reports from NYC residents who returned from areas with community spread, got sick, tested negative for the flu, and the CDC wouldn’t test them. I think in a few weeks we’ll find out that Coronavirus has actually been spreading in NYC for 3+ weeks. The CDC is incompetent.

simonh 7y ago
The CDC doesn't do much local testing. Mainly they provide test kits to local labs which do the tests. Please bear in mind that CDC funding for international coordination on pandemic control was cut by 80% a few years ago, and since 2018 they have not had a representative on the National Security Council, and had their senior Pandemic response positions eliminated. Reports that their overall funding was cut are not accurate, Congress fortunately re-instated their basic funding in the budgets before it came to that, but they have taken a severe political beating and been very much sidelined in recent years, which has not set them up to do their best work. The problem seems to be one of political perception. Most epidemic and pandemic threats originate outside the US and so significant parts of the CDC are oriented towards detecting, isolating and eliminating threats outside the US borders. They also work closely with international health agencies. The current US administration confuses this with 'aid for foreigners', when it's actually vital national defence.
- claudeganon 7y ago
  >The CDC doesn't do much local testing. Mainly they provide test kits to local labs which do the tests. Yes, but the CDC first botched their test kits and set ridiculously limited guidelines for testing (recent travel to China) that would have caught community transmission much earlier had they been widened. If this continues, we’re going to reach a point where states and local authorities are going to start ignoring the lagging directives of the CDC out of self-preservation. This already happened in NYC when they told the CDC to get bent with their botched test kits and just started manufacturing their own.
- toyg 7y ago
  I would upvote 100 times if I could. The two World Wars of the last century (and again 9/11) have driven home the concept that military security in an interdependent world requires a global perspective. Now is the time to understand that health security needs the same perspective, or even more so - because nature does not care about political borders.
- whatshisface 7y ago
  Of course, this is not related to the weird issue with tests not being available. Local hospitals are being prevented from running their own tests not by a lack of availability, but by a special directive that activates during a public health emergency.
  - simonh 7y ago
    That was a serious mistake, certainly. The CDC realy doesn't seem to have been on the ball. In fact a series of mistakes. Why not use the proven WHO test kits in the first place? I hope that wasn't driven by business considerations, or that having 80% of their international activities budget cut limited their ability to co-ordinate with the WHO and other national health agencies.
  - dotancohen 7y ago
    Can you elaborate on that? I haven't heard of this.
    - whatshisface 7y ago
      Take a look at this: https://twitter.com/davidalim/status/1233032552056807426 https://twitter.com/davidalim/status/1233032552056807426 Fortunately I heard this is in the process of being lifted. We should see the tests coming soon.
- hurricanetc 7y ago
  The CDC doesn't do much (any?) local testing but they established ridiculously stringent guidelines for having people tested. There was a case in NYC over the weekend from a man who had recently returned from a trip to Japan. The CDC wouldn't test him because Japan wasn't on the list at the time and so his case didn't meet their overly strict criteria. The hospital discharged him and he went home... on the subway. Flu symptoms but no flu, recently traveled to a country with community spread, and the CDC said he didn't qualify for a test kit. According to the CDC there were no cases in NYC until yesterday but that is almost certainly a lie. The quoted numbers from the CDC are completely worthless. This lack of transparency and accountability is causing people to panic more than they might otherwise. And now that proper testing is finally (maybe?) getting underway we're likely to see the number of cases skyrocket which will cause people to freak out even more. This panic response from the general public could have been and could still be avoided if the CDC and the federal government would just be open, honest, and transparent with people. But they aren't. They are tripping over themselves relentlessly which is causing panic and stirring conspiracy theorists.
  - simonh 7y ago
    I agree completely, the response internally, and co-ordination with international agencies have both been woeful. My point is that this is hardly surprising considering 80% of their budget for international operations was cut, along with their NSC representation and a handful of their most senior positions responsible for pandemic response. What effect would you expect that to have, when within a year or two of that happening suddenly there's an international health crisis and pandemic? The CDC, WHO and health care experts all over the world have been saying it's only a matter of time before something like this happens again ever since swine flu, MERS and SARS, but they have been treated like scare mongers and jumped up welfare programs by politicians. Of course they're not up to the task. If they're going to be sidelined, derided and de-funded how on earth could they be?
fullstop 7y ago
I've been in NYC every weekend over the last few months, and all members of my family/household has come down with a cold, cough, and congestion. My wife had it the worst (2 weeks), and I had it just for a day. For what it's worth, my wife works from home and didn't leave the house during those two weeks. I hate not knowing if we've been exposed or if this is just a typical winter thing. We're all individuals with healthy immune systems, and I'll probably never know.
- toyg 7y ago
  You might know if one day you get tested for whatever reason, they will pick up the antibodies.
dennisgorelik 7y ago
> The CDC is incompetent. Incompetent in achieving what goal? Building an accurate Coronavirus map has a questionable value, considering that Coronavirus is quite similar to a regular influensa. CDC was successful so far in delaying Coronavirus panic. Now the US public will learn that the scary disaster did happen several weeks ago and nobody even noticed. That cognitive dissonance will cause brief embarrassment, but then the general public will calm down and move on to other worries.
- hurricanetc 7y ago
  Testing is starting to ramp up now and because the CDC is incompetent the numbers are likely going to grow from 80 to several thousand in the span of a week. Let’s see if people freak out when the CDC tries to explain why that is. “Don’t worry, these numbers are normal, we are just incompetent and weren’t testing thoroughly.” The panic hasn’t even started yet. It will.
  - dennisgorelik 7y ago
    These new [bigger] numbers will show that Coronavirus is less deadly than a regular flu. That happy news will quickly stop the panic.

simonh 7y ago

The CDC doesn't do much local testing. Mainly they provide test kits to local labs which do the tests. Please bear in mind that CDC funding for international coordination on pandemic control was cut by 80% a few years ago, and since 2018 they have not had a representative on the National Security Council, and had their senior Pandemic response positions eliminated. Reports that their overall funding was cut are not accurate, Congress fortunately re-instated their basic funding in the budgets before it came to that, but they have taken a severe political beating and been very much sidelined in recent years, which has not set them up to do their best work. The problem seems to be one of political perception. Most epidemic and pandemic threats originate outside the US and so significant parts of the CDC are oriented towards detecting, isolating and eliminating threats outside the US borders. They also work closely with international health agencies. The current US administration confuses this with 'aid for foreigners', when it's actually vital national defence.

claudeganon 7y ago
>The CDC doesn't do much local testing. Mainly they provide test kits to local labs which do the tests. Yes, but the CDC first botched their test kits and set ridiculously limited guidelines for testing (recent travel to China) that would have caught community transmission much earlier had they been widened. If this continues, we’re going to reach a point where states and local authorities are going to start ignoring the lagging directives of the CDC out of self-preservation. This already happened in NYC when they told the CDC to get bent with their botched test kits and just started manufacturing their own.
toyg 7y ago
I would upvote 100 times if I could. The two World Wars of the last century (and again 9/11) have driven home the concept that military security in an interdependent world requires a global perspective. Now is the time to understand that health security needs the same perspective, or even more so - because nature does not care about political borders.
whatshisface 7y ago
Of course, this is not related to the weird issue with tests not being available. Local hospitals are being prevented from running their own tests not by a lack of availability, but by a special directive that activates during a public health emergency.
- simonh 7y ago
  That was a serious mistake, certainly. The CDC realy doesn't seem to have been on the ball. In fact a series of mistakes. Why not use the proven WHO test kits in the first place? I hope that wasn't driven by business considerations, or that having 80% of their international activities budget cut limited their ability to co-ordinate with the WHO and other national health agencies.
- dotancohen 7y ago
  Can you elaborate on that? I haven't heard of this.
  - whatshisface 7y ago
    Take a look at this: https://twitter.com/davidalim/status/1233032552056807426 https://twitter.com/davidalim/status/1233032552056807426 Fortunately I heard this is in the process of being lifted. We should see the tests coming soon.
hurricanetc 7y ago
The CDC doesn't do much (any?) local testing but they established ridiculously stringent guidelines for having people tested. There was a case in NYC over the weekend from a man who had recently returned from a trip to Japan. The CDC wouldn't test him because Japan wasn't on the list at the time and so his case didn't meet their overly strict criteria. The hospital discharged him and he went home... on the subway. Flu symptoms but no flu, recently traveled to a country with community spread, and the CDC said he didn't qualify for a test kit. According to the CDC there were no cases in NYC until yesterday but that is almost certainly a lie. The quoted numbers from the CDC are completely worthless. This lack of transparency and accountability is causing people to panic more than they might otherwise. And now that proper testing is finally (maybe?) getting underway we're likely to see the number of cases skyrocket which will cause people to freak out even more. This panic response from the general public could have been and could still be avoided if the CDC and the federal government would just be open, honest, and transparent with people. But they aren't. They are tripping over themselves relentlessly which is causing panic and stirring conspiracy theorists.
- simonh 7y ago
  I agree completely, the response internally, and co-ordination with international agencies have both been woeful. My point is that this is hardly surprising considering 80% of their budget for international operations was cut, along with their NSC representation and a handful of their most senior positions responsible for pandemic response. What effect would you expect that to have, when within a year or two of that happening suddenly there's an international health crisis and pandemic? The CDC, WHO and health care experts all over the world have been saying it's only a matter of time before something like this happens again ever since swine flu, MERS and SARS, but they have been treated like scare mongers and jumped up welfare programs by politicians. Of course they're not up to the task. If they're going to be sidelined, derided and de-funded how on earth could they be?

fullstop 7y ago

I've been in NYC every weekend over the last few months, and all members of my family/household has come down with a cold, cough, and congestion. My wife had it the worst (2 weeks), and I had it just for a day. For what it's worth, my wife works from home and didn't leave the house during those two weeks. I hate not knowing if we've been exposed or if this is just a typical winter thing. We're all individuals with healthy immune systems, and I'll probably never know.

toyg 7y ago
You might know if one day you get tested for whatever reason, they will pick up the antibodies.

dennisgorelik 7y ago

> The CDC is incompetent. Incompetent in achieving what goal? Building an accurate Coronavirus map has a questionable value, considering that Coronavirus is quite similar to a regular influensa. CDC was successful so far in delaying Coronavirus panic. Now the US public will learn that the scary disaster did happen several weeks ago and nobody even noticed. That cognitive dissonance will cause brief embarrassment, but then the general public will calm down and move on to other worries.

hurricanetc 7y ago
Testing is starting to ramp up now and because the CDC is incompetent the numbers are likely going to grow from 80 to several thousand in the span of a week. Let’s see if people freak out when the CDC tries to explain why that is. “Don’t worry, these numbers are normal, we are just incompetent and weren’t testing thoroughly.” The panic hasn’t even started yet. It will.
- dennisgorelik 7y ago
  These new [bigger] numbers will show that Coronavirus is less deadly than a regular flu. That happy news will quickly stop the panic.