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> Relevant to this story, the CDC in particular is no longer trusted by roughly half the country. See https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-cdc

> Relevant to this story, the CDC in particular is no longer trusted by roughly half the country. See https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-cdc-response-speci/special-report-how-u-s-cdc-missed-chances-to-spot-covids-silent-spread-idUSKBN29R1E7 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-cdc-re... > Yet Reuters has found new evidence that the CDC’s response to the pandemic also was marred by actions - or inaction - by the agency’s career scientists and frontline staff. > At a crucial moment in the pandemic when Americans were quarantined after possible exposure to the virus abroad, the agency declined or resisted potentially valuable opportunities to study whether the disease could be spread by those without symptoms, according to previously undisclosed internal emails, other documents and interviews with key players. Well worth a read, as is https://www.npr.org/2020/11/06/929078678/cdc-report-officials-knew-coronavirus-test-was-flawed-but-released-it-anyway https://www.npr.org/2020/11/06/929078678/cdc-report-official... The headline says it all: CDC Report: Officials Knew Coronavirus Test Was Flawed But Released It Anyway > In addition to learning of the early warning, reviewers determined the Respiratory Viruses Diagnostic Laboratory, run by a highly regarded scientist named Stephen Lindstrom, was beset with problems, including "process failures, a lack of appropriate recognized laboratory quality standards, and organizational problems related to the support and management of a laboratory supporting an outbreak response," the review said. > The CDC declined to make Lindstrom or anyone else available for an interview and declined to discuss the unreleased internal review. A spokesman would only say that the agency had "acknowledged and corrected mistakes along the way." Is it unreasonable for people to have lost faith and trust in the CDC based on its many pandemic failures?

GuB-42 5y ago
The CDC is not perfect, no agency in any country is. The thing is, we were hit by a pandemic that was practically impossible to stop. Some countries did better than others for a variety of reasons but it was bad times for everyone. And when times are bad, we look for people to blame. The virus is terrible, the agencies tasked with dealing with it did what they could, and that they couldn't solve an impossible problem in a superhuman way doesn't mean that they are unable to solve the easier problem of tracing back an infection.
- LurkingPenguin 5y ago
  Certainly, it was inevitable that the pandemic would hit the US. But after reading the articles I linked to, I think it's hard to argue reasonably that the CDC wasn't at a minimum incompetent if not negligent in its handling of the situation, especially early on. The US literally imported the virus via evacuation flights, and then the CDC made the decision not to consider asymptomatic infection and spread. Not only would this have significantly reduced the risk of people from those evacuations potentially seeding the country with virus, it would have allowed the CDC to issue accurate preventative guidance to Americans. Then the CDC pushed out test kits that it knew were faulty. I mean, come on! Is this the best America could have done? Meanwhile, I was living in a country (Taiwan) that knew something was up in January. At the very beginning of the month, health officials started screening passengers with a travel history to Wuhan. There was a lot talk about what was happening, so people here started masking voluntarily and the government officially banned the export of surgical and N95 masks on January 24 to ensure adequate supply for the country. My family and friends in the US had medical masks and N95s because I told them to stock up in January. Meanwhile in America, Fauci was telling Americans "there’s no reason to be walking around with a mask" and the Surgeon General was actually telling Americans masks might increase their risk of contracting the virus...in early March! Yes, I'm aware that Taiwan is an outlier in its success against COVID due to a variety of factors, some intrinsic (like island geography). But the US response was an abject, embarrassing disaster and it wasn't just because of destiny or crazy politicians.
  - iszomer 5y ago
    Don't forget the CCP lock down of local Wuhan travel with the exception of international flights. IIRC, early indicators of a possible outbreak existed long before the mass media picked up on the frenzy. My parents who live in Taiwan were talking about it just as they were coming home from visiting me in the states around November 2019 and they were so concerned that they advanced me a box of medical grade masks by mid January, due to having lived through the hysteria with SARS-COV-1 in 2003. No one took COVID19 seriously here while I commuted for work in NYC via MTA. At most, bottles of hand sanitizers did start appearing in the office late January but no one wore masks until the announcement for the "15 days to slow the spread" campaign.

GuB-42 5y ago

The CDC is not perfect, no agency in any country is. The thing is, we were hit by a pandemic that was practically impossible to stop. Some countries did better than others for a variety of reasons but it was bad times for everyone. And when times are bad, we look for people to blame. The virus is terrible, the agencies tasked with dealing with it did what they could, and that they couldn't solve an impossible problem in a superhuman way doesn't mean that they are unable to solve the easier problem of tracing back an infection.

LurkingPenguin 5y ago
Certainly, it was inevitable that the pandemic would hit the US. But after reading the articles I linked to, I think it's hard to argue reasonably that the CDC wasn't at a minimum incompetent if not negligent in its handling of the situation, especially early on. The US literally imported the virus via evacuation flights, and then the CDC made the decision not to consider asymptomatic infection and spread. Not only would this have significantly reduced the risk of people from those evacuations potentially seeding the country with virus, it would have allowed the CDC to issue accurate preventative guidance to Americans. Then the CDC pushed out test kits that it knew were faulty. I mean, come on! Is this the best America could have done? Meanwhile, I was living in a country (Taiwan) that knew something was up in January. At the very beginning of the month, health officials started screening passengers with a travel history to Wuhan. There was a lot talk about what was happening, so people here started masking voluntarily and the government officially banned the export of surgical and N95 masks on January 24 to ensure adequate supply for the country. My family and friends in the US had medical masks and N95s because I told them to stock up in January. Meanwhile in America, Fauci was telling Americans "there’s no reason to be walking around with a mask" and the Surgeon General was actually telling Americans masks might increase their risk of contracting the virus...in early March! Yes, I'm aware that Taiwan is an outlier in its success against COVID due to a variety of factors, some intrinsic (like island geography). But the US response was an abject, embarrassing disaster and it wasn't just because of destiny or crazy politicians.
- iszomer 5y ago
  Don't forget the CCP lock down of local Wuhan travel with the exception of international flights. IIRC, early indicators of a possible outbreak existed long before the mass media picked up on the frenzy. My parents who live in Taiwan were talking about it just as they were coming home from visiting me in the states around November 2019 and they were so concerned that they advanced me a box of medical grade masks by mid January, due to having lived through the hysteria with SARS-COV-1 in 2003. No one took COVID19 seriously here while I commuted for work in NYC via MTA. At most, bottles of hand sanitizers did start appearing in the office late January but no one wore masks until the announcement for the "15 days to slow the spread" campaign.