> That's not the system in the US - or hasn't been. The Federal government maintains what, until recently, was the world's premier infectious disease-fighting organization - the CDC. The implication was that pandemic response occurs through this organization. In the past, this is exactly what happened.
While you're right that the Federal government has the CDC, every single US States has its own infectious disease/health agency[1]. Furthermore, the EU also has its own centralized disease agency[2]. Structurally, both the US and EU are very similar in this regard. The only key difference is that (to your point) the EU States may override the ECDC, whereas US States may not — certainly a worthwhile policy change for the US.
> So the idea that this pandemic response is up to the states doesn't hold water. Had the states known that they'd be left twisting in the wind, they could have taken steps beforehand.
But this is factually incorrect, States did take steps beforehand. By March 23, every single State declared a state of emergency, and 48/50 States closed their schools. By as early as March 9th, the States were doing the VAST majority of COVID testing[3]. As of right now, the US has administered more tests per capita than Belgium, Australia, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Norway, and Sweden (to name a handful). This is not because the US has a nationwide testing regime, rather it is because testing systems have been administered at the State level[4].
> While you're right that the Federal government has the CDC, every single US States has its own infectious disease/health agency[1].
Those appear to be general public heath agencies with names like: "Department of Health Services"; "Medicaid"; and "Department of Health and Environment". I don't see one mention of the word "infectious" to indicate specialty.
None appear to be a unit with a mandate along the lines of "Detecting and responding to new and emerging health threats"
> By March 23, every single State declared a state of emergency, and 48/50 States closed their schools.
I was alluding to steps that might have been taken many years ago. Like, for example, establishing rapid response teams. Like, for example, giving states carte blanche to do their own testing when needed and not be forced to wait around for the CDC to do something. Certainly not reprimanded for taking the initiative.
> Those appear to be general public heath agencies with names like: "Department of Health Services"; "Medicaid"; and "Department of Health and Environment". I don't see one mention of the word "infectious" to indicate specialty.
Lmao what, that’s your argument? That’s just what the states call it. Take, for example, the Minnesota Department of Health. Among other things, its main charter is “disease control and prevention”[1]. This is true across the board. Every single US State has such an agency, whose staff are currently working full time on COVID. “I don’t see one word of the word infections”. Come on, really? THAT’S the best you got?
> "ECDC has approximately 300 staff and commands an annual budget of over €50 million."
What’s your point? The EU has funded their centralized agency less than the US, so? That doesn’t change the fact that the US has a federalized structure similar to the EU, where the States have a similar level of autonomy as their counterparts in the EU. The US State health agencies fall under the purviews of the State governments, which are wholly independent from the Federal government.
> "CDC's budget for fiscal year 2018 is $11.9 billion.”
Take this and also compare the budgets to the state government health agencies. The New York CITY Department of Health, whose responsibility includes infectious disease prevention has a budget of $1.6 billion, with 6,000 employees[2]. That’s just for the CITY of New York!
Random anecdote about the difference: I (in Germany) can't really remember seeing anything about what ECDC said or thinks in the past months in the media, only about country-level (and lower) authorities. Whereas US-CDC seems quoted quite a lot in US media.
Oh for sure, the CDC is certainly more talked about by the media, but the power and structure of the agencies is fairly similar.
It's only a matter of time until EU's agencies impose supremacy on its Member States. The EU supreme court is already starting to penalize member States for violating policies[1].
ECDC has primarily the "power" to coordinate data exchange between member states, and afaik no authority to force lower-level health authorities or healthcare providers to do anything, unless member states were to explicitly adopt their suggestions as binding in local law.
The mess that's going on with ECB is an IMHO quite special situation (which also is an odd example for "already starting to penalize for violating policies". There is no "starting to", obviously EU law has enforcement tools - although the court itself can't use them)
While you're right that the Federal government has the CDC, every single US States has its own infectious disease/health agency[1]. Furthermore, the EU also has its own centralized disease agency[2]. Structurally, both the US and EU are very similar in this regard. The only key difference is that (to your point) the EU States may override the ECDC, whereas US States may not — certainly a worthwhile policy change for the US.
> So the idea that this pandemic response is up to the states doesn't hold water. Had the states known that they'd be left twisting in the wind, they could have taken steps beforehand.
But this is factually incorrect, States did take steps beforehand. By March 23, every single State declared a state of emergency, and 48/50 States closed their schools. By as early as March 9th, the States were doing the VAST majority of COVID testing[3]. As of right now, the US has administered more tests per capita than Belgium, Australia, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Norway, and Sweden (to name a handful). This is not because the US has a nationwide testing regime, rather it is because testing systems have been administered at the State level[4].
[1] https://www.ehdp.com/links/us-shas.htm
[2] https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en
[3] https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1238574921346732032/photo...
[4] https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/