U.S. federal response to coronavirus a ‘fiasco,’ says global health expert
As the novel coronavirus pandemic takes hold in the U.S., some Americans are expressing concerns over how the government is handling the situation, the availability of testing kits and the U.S. response in comparison to that of other countries. Dr. Ashish Jha of the Harvard Global Health Institute joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the “deeply disappointing” U.S. management of the outbreak.
in part:
Judy Woodruff:
Who has dropped the ball here?
Ashish Jha:
You know, it's very hard to sort out. The World Health Organization put together a test kit; 60 countries accepted it. America decide to go its own way and not follow the WHO test kit.
That's OK, because America has a strong track record of developing its own test. And then it's been one kind of debacle after another. My best sense is that the administration has not prioritized this. They have no sense of urgency over this.
And when you look at what's happening across the country, with school closures, the NBA, and March Madness, all that being shut down, it's basically because we can't test anybody. We have lost the most powerful tool we have for fighting this disease. And so we're having to resort to a whole lot of other things.
Judy Woodruff:
What is it going to take to catch up?
Ashish Jha:
Well, I still can't quite figure out why the testing — you know, last week, Vice President Pence said we're going to have a million tests available.
I'm speaking to state health officials who tell me that they're rationing tests. They still can't get the tests out to doctors who need them. So there is some set of technical issues that really need prioritization.
And for us to not get really walloped by this infection, we have to implement very kind of draconian, difficult measures, like shutting down public meetings, like sending kids home, like ensuring people are not going to the office or going out to restaurants or movies.
We're going to have to do all of that until we really get a grip on the infection.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/u-s-federal-response-to-coronavirus-a-fiasco-says-global-health-expert?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=pbsofficial&utm_campaign=newshour&utm_content=1584108045&fbclid=IwAR0-y-UJo9X6yS8Mz-CP0kH9fP_vQZArv38YXxzeDH10pZi6ZKSX58FU-f8
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