“Isolating cases, tracking contacts, all of those things we’re talking about now, we really should have been talking about in January,” Beth Cameron said on Yahoo’s “Skullduggery” podcast.
The official who oversaw epidemic preparedness for the National Security Council under President Obama said the absence of public guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic leaves her “frankly scared” — and that eliminating her position weakened the American response to the coronavirus when it emerged 18 months later.
The administration reportedly watered down CDC guidelines for reopening, blocking the release of a detailed plan agency officials favored. In recent days, anonymous CDC officials have told CNN they were prepared to issue a global travel alert on March 5, after noticing a number of new cases in Europe, but for unexplained reasons the alert didn’t go out until nearly a week later. A CDC spokesman did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Cameron, who is now the vice president for global biological policy and programs at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit organization focused on reducing biological, chemical, radiological and nuclear weapons threats, said the NSC pandemic office would have been able to identify “points of failure” and likely supply chain problems before the disease began spreading in the U.S.
While early vaccine trials are showing positive results in monkeys, she said, it may be a long time before a vaccine is ready. In recent weeks, baseless conspiracy theories about how the coronavirus developed and spread as well as about dangers posed by a vaccine have gone viral on online.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Former NFL coach Marvin Lewis compares tabled resolution to Jim Crow lawFormer NFL coach Marvin Lewis took offense to a proposal that would provide draft-pick incentives to teams that hired people of color for head coach or general manager positions. “It was like having Jim Crow laws,” Lewis says. - NBCBLK
Read more »
Former White House employee who served 11 presidents dies of coronavirus at 91Wilson Roosevelt Jerman, who began working at the White House in 1957, was "a lovely man," former President George W. Bush told NBC News.
Read more »
Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen released from prison into home confinement due to coronavirus concernPresident Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen was just released from prison over coronavirus concerns. He will serve the remainder of his sentence in his Manhattan apartment, according to a law enforcement source.
Read more »
China has betrayed Hong Kong, Hong Kong former governor saysChina has betrayed the people of Hong Kong so the West should stop kowtowing to Beijing for an illusory great pot of gold, said Chris Patten, the last governor of the former British colony.
Read more »
China has betrayed Hong Kong, former HK governor saysChina has betrayed the people of Hong Kong so the West should stop kowtowing to Beijing for an illusory great pot of gold, said Chris Patten, the last governor of the former British colony.
Read more »