
Trump Received Intelligence Briefings on Coronavirus Twice in January - dlcmh
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/05/02/849619486/trump-received-intelligence-briefings-on-coronavirus-twice-in-january
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mytailorisrich
Wuhan is a major city very well integrated into the world at large. It is a
transport and industrial hub with many major Western companies, Western
expats, and Western diplomatic representations, including a US consulate.

This makes it pretty clear that Western intelligence knew what was going on in
real time at least as well as the local people and perhaps as well as the
Chinese central government.

But, both because the Western struggle against China and political games to
deflect criticism the facts are distorted and spun, if not ignored, on all
sides.

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roenxi
You'd hope so; the virus was international news in January. I found an old
newspaper just yesterday from January with an article titled something like
"Mysterious Lung Disease in Wuhan".

SARS, MERS, Ebola and others had already been dealt with successfully so
presumably the real surprise was the asymptomatic infections. COVID-19
outbreaks don't look so scary until the body bags start to run out and it
becomes apparent that the situation is out of control.

