quote:
Originally posted by kalakoa
a test that was just developed virtually overnight for a brand new virus
If only we had funded more virology R&D instead of giving tax cuts to the wealthy.
And there it is, the central, the main, point in all these discussions. The closing of the already federally funded, in place and functioning, White House Pandemic Office by our current executive. And, to make matters worse its continued inability to take responsibility for everything that has followed has resulted, directly, in the deaths of thousands of Americas.
No, imo, that's not a political matter. That's just facts. And if we don't acknowledge them and adjust for the harm our inability to do so in the past has caused, we're destine to repeat this kind of blunder over and over again.
A politically divided, ideologically driven government where nothing happens but one side decides to stonewall the other and then when it is in power rape and pillage all we hold dear has left us at the mercy of covid19 like we never would have been if we were still guided by the administration that started the White House Pandemic Office.
I ran the White House pandemic office. Trump closed it.
By Beth Cameron
Beth Cameron is vice president for global biological policy and programs at the Nuclear Threat Initiative. She previously served as the senior director for global health security and biodefense on the White House National Security Council.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/n...story.html
When President Trump took office in 2017, the White House’s National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense survived the transition intact. Its mission was the same as when I was asked to lead the office, established after the Ebola epidemic of 2014: to do everything possible within the vast powers and resources of the U.S. government to prepare for the next disease outbreak and prevent it from becoming an epidemic or pandemic.
One year later, I was mystified when the White House dissolved the office, leaving the country less prepared for pandemics like covid-19...
It really is a page turner. One of those real who-done-its.. fascinating how karma works. Utterly amazing.
Edited to add the substantiating snippet above and remind those that may have forgotten (and are otherwise internet challenged) there is no paywall, but instead, as is pretty much happening with every other publication during these trying times, this is free if you sign up for the Washington Post's Covid-19 Section..