THREAD
We Were Warned
When the inevitable inquiry into the government's response to COVID-19 happens, it will conclude that signs of a coming crisis were everywhere.
theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
We Were Warned
When the inevitable inquiry into the government's response to COVID-19 happens, it will conclude that signs of a coming crisis were everywhere.
theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
We Were Warned /2
We were warned in 2012, when the Rand Corporation surveyed the international threats arrayed against the United States and concluded that only pandemics posed an existential danger, in that they were “capable of destroying America’s way of life.”
We were warned in 2012, when the Rand Corporation surveyed the international threats arrayed against the United States and concluded that only pandemics posed an existential danger, in that they were “capable of destroying America’s way of life.”
We Were Warned /3
We were warned in 2015, when Ezra Klein of Vox, after speaking with Bill Gates..wrote that “a pandemic disease is the most predictable catastrophe in the history of the human race, if only because it has happened to the human race so many, many times before.”
We were warned in 2015, when Ezra Klein of Vox, after speaking with Bill Gates..wrote that “a pandemic disease is the most predictable catastrophe in the history of the human race, if only because it has happened to the human race so many, many times before.”
We Were Warned /4
We were warned in 2017,..when Lisa Monaco, Barack Obama’s outgoing homeland-security adviser,gathered w/Donald Trump’s incoming national-security officials &conducted an exercise modeled on the administration’s experiences w/outbreaks of swine flu, Ebola &Zika.
We were warned in 2017,..when Lisa Monaco, Barack Obama’s outgoing homeland-security adviser,gathered w/Donald Trump’s incoming national-security officials &conducted an exercise modeled on the administration’s experiences w/outbreaks of swine flu, Ebola &Zika.
We Were Warned /5
We were warned in 2018, on 100th anniversary of flu pandemic of 1918 (killed 50-100 million ppl)..Ed Yong served notice—the “next plague” was coming, w/influenza the most dangerous possibility, even as the U.S. succumbed to “forgetfulness &shortsightedness.”
We were warned in 2018, on 100th anniversary of flu pandemic of 1918 (killed 50-100 million ppl)..Ed Yong served notice—the “next plague” was coming, w/influenza the most dangerous possibility, even as the U.S. succumbed to “forgetfulness &shortsightedness.”
We Were Warned /6
Luciana Borio, then the director for medical and biodefense preparedness at the National Security Council, told a symposium that “the threat of pandemic flu is our number-one health security concern.”
Luciana Borio, then the director for medical and biodefense preparedness at the National Security Council, told a symposium that “the threat of pandemic flu is our number-one health security concern.”
We Were Warned /7
..next day, news broke that Nat’l Security Adviser Bolton shuttered the NSC’s unit for preparing &responding to pandemics..The White House official in charge of spearheading such a response to infectious threats departed as well and was not replaced.
..next day, news broke that Nat’l Security Adviser Bolton shuttered the NSC’s unit for preparing &responding to pandemics..The White House official in charge of spearheading such a response to infectious threats departed as well and was not replaced.
