“On Jan. 29, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told President Trump the coronavirus epidemic was under control.”
“The U.S. government had never mounted a better interagency response to a crisis, Mr. Azar told the president in a meeting held eight days after the U.S. announced its first case, according to administration officials. At the time, the administration’s focus was on containing the virus.”
“When other officials asked about diagnostic testing, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, began to answer. Mr. Azar cut him off, telling the president it was “the fastest we’ve ever created a test,” the officials recalled, and that more than one million tests would be available within weeks.”
“That didn’t happen. The CDC began shipping tests the following week, only to discover a flaw that forced it to recall the test from state public-health laboratories…
Among other functions, Mr. Azar’s agency has oversight of serology tests that would determine whether Americans have antibodies potentially making them temporarily immune to reinfection—tests that could be essential as the U.S. looks to send people back to work.”
“It also oversees the distribution of $100 billion in stimulus funding to the health-care system…” Read the full article here.
Source: Health Chief’s Early Missteps Set Back Coronavirus Response – By Rebecca Ballhaus and Stephanie Armour, April 22, 2020. Wall Street Journal.
