What to make of the World Health Organization meeting to determine designation of Wuhan Coronavirus as PHEIC (public health emergency of international concern) Wed. I'm not a Dr., but from governance and homeland security vantage point, here's where we are @who 1/
A PHEIC has occurred 5 times before, so we are not in new territory. It requires member countries to disclose outbreaks, focuses WHO and national governance systems to align resources, and could even lead to travel or other bans. It is both reactive and precautionary. 2/
It is "an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response" 3/
formulated when a situation arises that is "serious, sudden, unusual or unexpected", which "carries implications for public health beyond the affected State's national border" and "may require immediate international action" 4/
Ok sounds bad, and it isn't good, but the best way to stop Wuhan, which is a new virus that was originally thought to have been spread by seafood but now appears to be passing from humans (and likely explains a case in US) is identification and treatment. 5/
WHO has struggled with timing of alerts. Too slow with SARS; too fast with H1N1; too slow with Ebola, etc. But this is a quick emergency meeting being called by the WHO Wednesday (Geneva time) and it is because the virus is spreading fast and is new. 6/
From homeland perspective @DHSgov, the CDC was correct to disclose this first case here so quickly, testing visitors from certain countries, and so far letting science lead. (You all can fill in your political commentary.) 7/
Again, I'm not a doctor, have only dealt with this from security perspective (H1N1, Ebola, etc). A real life health security Dr. runs Security and Global Health project here @BelferCenter. Contact Margaret Bordeaux @nonstopdoc for science of this all. 8/
Outbreaks have a way of scaring us irrationally. We saw Contagion. We don't have faith in institutions. Science is under assault. It is probable that we wake up tomorrow with the PHEIC designation. It's not a "good" thing but it may help us make things less bad. Success! 9/9
