These are emails obtained by the New York Times concerning early reactions to the outbreak by leading scientists and government officials https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthel...ull.pdf#page=1
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Red Dawn Email exchanges by top government officials regarding emerging COVID-19
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Red Dawn Email exchanges by top government officials regarding emerging COVID-19
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Very interesting.
Notice the reliance on "blogs" and what we think. That would be FluTrackers, Avian Flu Diary, Crof's blog H5N1.
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A journalist asked me yesterday why I responded below to a question they asked:
"I am not sure what all of the various governments were thinking. It was clear by January 21 that this outbreak was serious and had potential implications globally."
Here was my answer:
"On January 21 the following happened (which is all publicly documented on our site in real time):
1) The World Health Organization Western Pacific posted a tweet which I posted on the site in red bolding: "It is now very clear from the latest information that there is at least some human-to-human transmission of #nCoV2019. Infections among health care workers strengthen the evidence for this."
This is highly significant. Every professional epidemiologist knows that when health care workers are becoming infected in an outbreak when they are wearing full PPE - the disease is highly contagious.
2) A doctor in Taiwan publicly warned on the infectivity.
3) The spread in China was continuing. By the 21stJapan had their first case. There were 2 in Thailand, and 1 in South Korea. Taiwan and the United States announced their first case.
This international spread is important because probably these travelers did not travel while extremely ill with pneumonia. This was the first indication that this disease might not make its victims sick until a few days after infecting them. This had serious implications for stopping the disease. If people do not know they are sick they will continue their normal life – possibly infecting others. We did not know at this time that people were shedding a lot of virus while asymptomatic, but the fact that people were traveling while not feeling ill opened the door to this possibility.
4) A warning from a Hong Kong expert was published that the cases were growing very fast and the disease was widespread in the region.
5) The mayor of Wuhan publicly told people not to come to Wuhan. The day before he told the citizens not to leave Wuhan without special permission. This is not a small village. This is a city of 11 million to essentially close down. A very disturbing and significant event. The entire world should have taken heed of this event.
6) The US CDC raised the travel alert for Wuhan from a level one to a level two.
7) A news report that N95 masks were sold out through internet vendors. There was a global run on protective masks.
8) A news report that funeral workers were wearing full PPE to handle bodies."
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While the U.S. gov debated what to do our team was starting to warn. Here are a couple of more examples - and there are many:
Caught With Our Masks Down (Revisited)
Started by Michael Coston, January 23rd, 2020, 05:23 AM
Emerg Infect Dis.: Simple Respiratory Mask
January 26th, 2020, 08:57 PM
I came across a pattern that someone suggest using to make your own comparable N95 mask. She said her husband, who is in medical school said 4 layers of cotton fabric is said to be the same as an N95 mask. So ... those who know more than I: is this true? Here's the link to the pattern: https://www.craftpassion.com/face-ma...NSQS6ty4wOJK20
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There was a rebuttal to the New York times article above that listed the CDC actions in January. So to be fair I wanted to list those through January:
January 6 - CDC issued a travel watch for Wuhan, China link
January 15 - Japan reports 1st case. link
January 17 - CDC announces airport screening at 3 airports for travelers from Wuhan, China and issues a HAN. link link
January 18 - US embassy issues a statement on Wuhan, China link
January 18 - World Health Organization Western Pacific tweets that there is some evidence of limited human-to-human transmission link
January 20 - South Korea reports 1st case link
January 20 - Thailand reports 1st case link
January 20 - China government admits new coronavirus transmits human-to-human and there are some infected health care workers link
January 21 - World Health Organization Western Region tweets that "there is some human-to-human transmission", health care workers are infected. link
January 21 - ECDC - "The likelihood of introduction of the virus to the EU is considered low." link
January 21 - China officials start a shut down of Wuhan. link
January 21 - China announces 291 confirmed cases in 3 provinces and Beijing, plus suspected cases in 12 more provinces. link
January 21 - Taiwan reports 1st case. link
January 21 - United States reports 1st case. link
January 21 - CDC raised health advisory to level 2. Also expanded screening of travelers from Wuhan at more US airports. link
January 22 - Hong Kong reports 1st case. link
January 23 - W.H.O. declines to declare a public health emergency of international concern. link
January 23 - CDC upgrades health advisory to a level 3 for Wuhan, China link
January 23 - Singapore reports 1st case. link
January 24 - China institutes a public transportation ban to 12 cities. link
January 24 - CDC confirms second US case of coronavirus and is monitoring 63 other possible infections link
January 26 - United States reports 3rd case. link
January 27 - CDC: Avoid all non-essential travel to Hubei, China. link
January 29 - CDC: 20 airports are now screening where CDC has quarantine stations. Low risk to general American public. Most Americans don't need to be necessarily concerned. link
January 31 - United States reports 7th case. link
January 31 - CDC Issues Federal Quarantine Order to Repatriated U.S. Citizens at March Air Reserve Base. link
January 31 - US declares Public Health Emergency - Temporary travel ban on foreign nationals who have recently visited China. link
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Here is the link to all of the CDC telemedia conferences transcripts:
https://www.cdc.gov/media/archives.h...pe=Transcripts
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