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How federal health officials misled state scientists and derailed the best chance at containment
The coronavirus test that wasnt: How federal health officials misled state scientists and derailed the best chance at containment
Brett Murphy Letitia Stein
USA TODAY
The coronavirus epidemic this week reached Beadle County, South Dakota. A single case tied to travel has exploded into 14 infections and counting, with no way to know how many were exposed while supply shortages forced the entire state to briefly suspend testing.
Confirmed cases in New York City, where hospitals have fallen into chaos as resources run thin, on Thursday surpassed Beadles entire population of 18,500. With too few tests for too many cases, doctors there already had been told it no longer made sense to test most ill patients.
From its biggest cities to its smallest towns, Americas chance to contain the coronavirus crisis came and went in the seven weeks since U.S. health officials botched the testing rollout and then misled scientists in state laboratories about this critical early failure. Federal regulators failed to recognize the spiraling disaster and were slow to relax the rules that prevented labs and major hospitals from advancing a backup.
Scientists around the country found themselves shackled as the disease spread.
We were watching a tsunami and standing there frozen, said Dr. Debra Wadford, director of the public viral disease laboratory in California, where some of the country's earliest patients were identified.
The nations public health pillars the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration shirked their responsibility to protect Americans in an emergency like this new coronavirus, USA TODAY found in interviews with dozens of scientists, public health experts and community leaders, as well as email communications between laboratories and hospitals across the country.
The result was a cascading series of failures now costing lives...................................
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How federal health officials misled state scientists and derailed the best chance at containment (Original Post)
riversedge
Mar 2020
OP
BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)1. Its like under Trump we have become a complete criminal enterprise.
You saw the article on how Koch spent money to derail CDC funding research and now complains about sheltering in place because its costing business money?
I am not an irrational person, I am frightened for good reasons.
riversedge
(70,204 posts)3. I am frightened also.
BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)4. They never stop. This crisis brings out their best vultures. November can't come soon enough.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,956 posts)5. Kick