Uncle Sam v the Coronavirus - Covid-19 is spreading rapidly in America. The country does not look ready

When a disease first took hold in Wuhan, the Chinese authorities did not have the luxury of advanced notice. Their initial strategy, in the crucial early weeks of what would become the global pandemic covid-19, was obfuscation and censorship, which did nothing to halt the spread of the virus that causes the disease. Only now, months after the first cases were reported, have new transmissions slowed to close to zero—and only after an unprecedented, draconian lockdown for hundreds of millions of citizens.

America, by contrast, had the luxury of several weeks’ notice. Yet the crucial early weeks when it could have prepared for the spread of the disease were squandered, in a country with some of the world’s best epidemiologists and physicians. As of March 11th, almost 1,300 Americans had been diagnosed with covid-19. Several times more probably have the disease undetected and are transmitting it within communities. And still the country looks behind in its preparations for what now threatens to be a bruising pandemic.

Read more at: Uncle Sam v the coronavirus - Covid-19 is spreading rapidly in America. The country does not look ready | United States | The Economist