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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsExclusive: U.S. slashed CDC staff inside China prior to coronavirus outbreak (Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-cdc-exclusiv/exclusive-u-s-slashed-cdc-staff-inside-china-prior-to-coronavirus-outbreak-idUSKBN21C3N5March 25, 2020 / 5:26 PM / Updated 2 hours ago
Exclusive: U.S. slashed CDC staff inside China prior to coronavirus outbreak
Marisa Taylor
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration cut staff by more than two-thirds at a key U.S. public health agency operating inside China, as part of a larger rollback of U.S.-funded health and science experts on the ground there leading up to the coronavirus outbreak, Reuters has learned.
Most of the reductions were made at the Beijing office of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and occurred over the past two years, according to public CDC documents viewed by Reuters and interviews with four people familiar with the drawdown.
The Atlanta-based CDC, Americas preeminent disease fighting agency, provides public health assistance to nations around the world and works with them to help stop outbreaks of contagious diseases from spreading globally. It has worked in China for 30 years.
The CDCs China headcount has shrunk to around 14 staffers, down from approximately 47 people since President Donald Trump took office in January 2017, the documents show. The four people, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the losses included epidemiologists and other health professionals.
The material reviewed by Reuters shows a breakdown of how many American and local Chinese employees were assigned there. The documents are the CDCs own descriptions of its headcount, which it posts online. Reuters was able to search past copies of the material to confirm the decline described by the four people.
The CDC office in Beijing is a shell of its former self, said one of the people, a U.S. official who worked in China at the time of the drawdown.
Separately, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the global relief program which had a role in helping China monitor and respond to outbreaks, also shut their Beijing offices on Trumps watch. Before the closures, each office was staffed by a U.S. official. In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) transferred out of China in 2018 the manager of an animal disease monitoring program.
Reductions at the U.S. agencies sidelined health experts, scientists and other professionals who might have been able to help China mount an earlier response to the novel coronavirus, as well as provide the U.S. government with more information about what was coming, according to the people who spoke with Reuters. The Trump administration in February chastised China for censoring information about the outbreak and for keeping U.S. experts from entering the country to assist.
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Exclusive: U.S. slashed CDC staff inside China prior to coronavirus outbreak (Reuters) (Original Post)
dalton99a
Mar 2020
OP
napi21
(45,806 posts)1. So, do Americans still think it doesn't really matter who you elect President? That's been the
process they've believed for decades. I remember many people telling me in 2015 they were voting for DT because he's a businessman. Maybe HE will do better than presidents have in the past!
Have they asked themselves just what they want any president to do? Do they even know?
stillcool
(32,626 posts)2. but, but...
Senators Hawley, Stefanik Introduce Bill to Investigate China for Coronavirus Coverup
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213174712
Senators Hawley, Stefanik Introduce Bill to Investigate China for Coronavirus Coverup
https://news.yahoo.com/hawley-stefanik-introduce-bill-investigate-150928064.html
Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) and Representative Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) on Tuesday introduced a bicameral resolution to condemn the Chinese Communist Party for its initial handling of the coronavirus outbreak, and called for an international investigation to determine how the coverup hastened the emergence of a global pandemic.
**********************************************
There is no doubt that Chinas unconscionable decision to orchestrate an elaborate coverup of the wide-ranging and deadly implications of coronavirus led to the death of thousands of people, including hundreds of Americans and climbing, Stefanik added. This Resolution calls for China to provide compensation for the harm, loss, and destruction their arrogance brought upon the rest of the world. Simply put China must, and will, be held accountable.
The bill calls the international community to quantify the harm caused by Chinas actions and to design a mechanism for delivering compensation from the CCP to those affected.
dalton99a
(81,565 posts)3. Yeah, send them a bill for $791,326,890,352,629.05
Good luck with that
stillcool
(32,626 posts)4. it's what Trump does...
right before he claims bankruptcy.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)5. Build a wall to keep out coronavirus, and China will pay for it.
Those two should be laughed out of Congress.
BootinUp
(47,177 posts)6. thats pratically MIHOP. nt
blitzen
(4,572 posts)7. As always, Trump is even way worse than we think. n/t