Leadership in the US Government wasted a lot of time trying to play down the pandemic [1] as did large (conservative) news organizations [2]. Both are now trying to blame China, arguably to shift blame from themselves.
It didn't need to be that way; South Korea's government action back in January helped them while the US Government's action hindered response [3].
If you read the entirety of [3], the American CDC's test was produced and approved at roughly the same time in early february as the Korean tests. The problem was a flaw in the test setting the process back, not a lack of government initiative. The remaining lesson in comparing SK and US here seems to be to rely on the private sector and not the govt in a crisis.
by the way, on reddit I see people from practically every western country complaining about their government initially downplaying and being slow to react to the virus.
by the way, on reddit I see people from practically every western country complaining about their government initially downplaying and being slow to react to the virus.