re: OT: Alabama Coronavirus Thread (see link in OP for case numbers and death totals in AL)

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There are things the government can do that are out of my control that could have mitigated the impact in this country that they failed to do, and they should be held accountable for that. There's even another report out this morning that people in HOmeland Security were sounding the alarm over this in November of last year, and our government didn't take any meaningful steps until February.

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The issue with that stance, as I noted in an earlier post, is China was consistently and regularly saying when the outbreak first happened that there was absolutely no evidence of human-to-human transmission. They said that for weeks, despite having definitive proof that human-to-human transmission was not only happening, it was particularly aggressive.

You can make the argument that the U.S. isn't well-equipped to handle an outbreak of this type; that's an issue that will likely be examined in depth in the months and years to come. Pointing a finger at the administration based on their reaction to this particular pandemic, though, particularly given the active campaign of disinformation being waged by China and possibly the WHO during the early stages of the disease's outbreak, is simpleminded and myopic at best.

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The issue with that stance, as I noted in an earlier post, is China was consistently and regularly saying when the outbreak first happened that there was absolutely no evidence of human-to-human transmission. They said that for weeks, despite having definitive proof that human-to-human transmission was not only happening, it was particularly aggressive.

You can make the argument that the U.S. isn't well-equipped to handle an outbreak of this type; that's an issue that will likely be examined in depth in the months and years to come. Pointing a finger at the administration based on their reaction to this particular pandemic, though, particularly given the active campaign of disinformation being waged by China and possibly the WHO during the early stages of the disease's outbreak, is simpleminded and myopic at best.

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So our leaders listened to the CHinese government over our own agencies and experts. And that doesn't concern you in the least? Yes, China handled it horribly. Yes, China lied about several things. How does that absolve our own leaders who were getting information that was in conflict with what the Chinese were reporting and failed to act on it?

I need a link to this secret information that was being given to our leaders. Or are you just spouting off?

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Anytime someone has blame China for this virus (and the Chinese are to blame) you always blame the government (particular the president) for this virus.

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I have never once blamed our government or Trump for the virus. I have blamed for their slow response to the virus spreading here. So get your facts straight before spouting off at me.

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I mean this with every fiber of my being. frick You and the communist fricking nag you rode in on. Low down POS of a so called American you call yourself.

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who, it turns out, may have just been rubber-stamping what China was promoting without doing rigorous fact-checking and investigating on their own.

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WHO is the bag for China

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So you would have been all for travel restrictions to China and Europe in November?

Just be honest for once, there is no way that Trump could have handled this to make you happy. You’ve been crying since he got elected.

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So you would have been all for travel restrictions to China and Europe in November?

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It would have depended on how they were communicated and implemented. I didn't really have a problem with the ones that were issued, other than I think they were too late and too narrow to have much meaningful impact.

Yes, I know all that. Intelligence reports are not the gospel, and aren't always intended to be acted upon. I don't fault the administration for not acting on that info in November. I only bring it up to point out that some folks in our government knew or suspected the Chinese were fibbing their numbers and felt it necessary to send that info up the chain to the WH. And if that info was in WH briefings as far back as November, it's likely it was a consistent message in the briefings through December and January.

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There's something you (and others) need to understand regarding intelligence reports such as the one done by the U.S. military's National Center for Medical Intelligence, which is what ABC News is using as the central part of that story.

Intelligence reports are just that -- a distillation of facts (and sometimes educated guesses) collected from various sources in a region or related to a particular topic. If they rise to the level of a briefing document, typically the briefing will include at least three scenarios: best-case, worst-case, and probable outcome. The intent of such documents is to look at possible threats and determine our best response.

I'm not privy to what was in the NCMI intelligence report / briefing document, but I would be willing to guarantee you what's being reported is the "worst-case" scenario, with no reference to the "best-case" or "probable outcome" scenarios.

I stand by my statement that we (U.S. leaders) had no reason to expect COVID-19 would be as virulent or as serious as it actually is, based on the information we were getting from WHO (and, to a lesser extent, China).

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Not only that, but you're expecting the leader of the free world to shut down everything and destroy the economy and restrict freedoms based on conflicting reports from varying sources? Not gonna happen. There was not a single known case outside of China in November. Absolutely that brief needs to be seen by the President and officials responsible for making decisions based on the intelligence. But until hard evidence is seen, any world leader in any free government on the planet is going to say "monitor closely for further development and report it back to me." They will NOT take drastic action based on intelligence reports without corroborating evidence from other sources and even then, the response is probably measured. Democracies just don't work the way China's totalitarian response did and still didn't work.

I have read reports from westerners on the ground inside the cordoned off Wuhan area. They just a couple of weeks ago were allowed to go outside. They are still on travel lockdown until April 30. In a place where it began 5-6 months ago. If you expected that from the Federal government, then you are dreaming. The American government made plenty of mistakes, just as we always do, like before 9/11. We will analyze and crtitique after this is all over and plenty of blame will be spread around. But now is not the time for finger pointing, nor should a perfect response have been expected. It's not how we operate, and probably never will.

Trump ha done s good of a job as could humanly be done to this point.

Too bad you don't have Joe Biden to handle this.