The CDC’s failed race against covid-19: A threat underestimated and a test overcomplicated
12/28/20
< < Go Back
from The Washington Post,
12/26/20:
A new virus was exploding in Wuhan, a Chinese city with 11 million people connected by its airport to destinations around the world. In the United States, doctors and hospitals were waiting for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop a test to detect the threat.
On Jan. 13, the World Health Organization had made public a recipe for how to configure such a test, and several countries wasted no time getting started: Within hours, scientists in Thailand used the instructions to deploy a new test.
The CDC would not roll out one that worked for 46 more days.
More From The Washington Post (subscription required):