25 Days That Changed the World: How Covid-19 Slipped China’s Grasp

#Politically, it was a perilous situation for both men.

#As its trade war with #China escalated, the #Trump administration had all but eliminated a public health partnership with #Beijing that had begun after the debacle of SARS and was intended to help prevent potential pandemics. #By pulling out, current and former agency officials say, #Washington cut itself off from potential intelligence about the virus, and lost a chance to work with #China against it.

#Under the partnership, teams of #American doctors were stationed in #China and, over time, helped train more than 2,500 #Chinese public health staff. #More than 15 traveled to the #United #States for training, as well.

“Our trainees,” the #Americans called them.

#One of the #American doctors was stationed inside the #Chinese C.D.C., building ties with trainees bound for posts across the country, and socializing with #Chinese doctors.

“You are in a position to gain extremely important information,” said #Dr. #Jeffrey #Koplan, a former agency director who helped set up the arrangement, “particularly on a threatening new disease.”

#In a review of 10 years of partnership, doctors on both sides argued that it had helped prevent potential pandemics, such as avian flu, which first appeared in the southern province of #Guangdong. #China let U.S. epidemiologists join the response and sent scientists to #America for training, a partnership that continued as recently as 2017, when a newly virulent strain spread to other countries and killed more than 600 people.

“We worked shoulder to shoulder with the #China C.D.C.,” recalled #Dr. #Tom #Frieden, the head of the U.S. agency under #President #Barack #Obama. #With further spread and the wrong mutation, #Dr. #Frieden added, “It could have been a pandemic.”

#Another #American program in the country — called #Predict — sought to spot dangerous pathogens in animals, particularly coronaviruses, before they could leap to humans. #One of the labs it worked with was in #Wuhan.