More than 5 000 people in the United States have died in the Coronavirus pandemic, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, and more than 215 000 people have tested positive in the US.
Anthony S. Fauci, director of the US National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, had warned some years ago that “there is no doubt” that Donald Trump will face an outbreak of a surprise infectious disease “during his presidency”.
Thus began an article by Healio of 11 January 2017, which reported what had emerged during a conference at the time.
Fauci currently leads the fight against the Coronavirus in America and appears alongside Trump in press conferences, while also adding to the controversy about the management of the crisis in the US.
The article concludes: “Fauci said that other concerns about the Trump administration also include a new potential flu pandemic and the onset of diseases that have not yet been identified by anyone.”
From January to August last year, the Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other US agencies have conducted exercises to “respond to severe pandemic influenza-a”.
A large-scale execise called Crimson Contagion was launched. The document reads: “35 operational centers have been activated for the exercise…”
The New York Times summarized the conclusions of the exercise as “the outbreak of an epidemic caused by a virus that attacks the respiratory tract, which broke out in China, spread rapidly throughout the world through the passengers of the planes, who have fever with body temperatures high”.
Despite all these warnings and counter-measures, the US has surpassed China in the number of deaths and more than doubled its official count for confirmed cases, according to the Johns Hopkins University data.
Instead of being prepared, the Trump administration has taken 500 000 test kits out of Italy, tried to bribe a German pharmaceutical company to lay claim to a vaccine, pirated masks earmarked for Canada and Germany, diverted face masks destined for France, advertised easy immigration for doctors and dropped blood donation requirements for gay men.
On November 15, 2019, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention even launched a recruitment notice for health care advisors experienced in quarantine programmes. The first case in the Chinese province of Hubei dates back to November 17, however.
The United States had predicted with extreme accuracy what would be happening; also the origin of the pandemic allegedly in China. Among the many questions that all this raises, is a rather naive one: is it possible that in the face of such accurate foresight in the US there is such a confused answer to the pandemic?
Although the epidemic first broke out in China, it did not necessarily mean that the virus is originated from China, let alone “made in China”. pic.twitter.com/EVXLkQnyfF
— Chinese Embassy in South Africa (@ChineseEmbSA) March 7, 2020
Not only China’s ambassador to South Africa, but Russia has also questioned the parentage of the virus.
On March 29, a “source in the Russian Foreign Ministry” told the state news agency Tass: “In order to unambiguously answer the question about the origin, about where the first case emerged, major research needs to be carried out. So, Washington’s accusing tone in comments against China arouses blatant bewilderment.”
