“Why did DC wait this long ?”
Because markets and money.
On a truly grand scale.
The economic hit in a worldwide market panic would likely do more damage than the contagion.
Unless you’re one of the dead.
hard to believe that 10 days ago Korea only had 50 cases, and Italy’s first domestic case was Feb 19/20 (the previous cases were Jan 30th Chinese tourists off the cruise ship Smeralda)
The man, identified only as Mattia, was admitted to the emergency room in Codogno, Lombardy, early on February 19 with respiratory problems, reported the Corriere della Serra and CNN.
Mattia was tested at around 4 p.m. on February 20 — 36 hours after being admitted — and at 9 p.m. the infection was diagnosed, according to Corriere della Sera. The delay in testing was because he wasn’t recently returned from China, the newspaper said.
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-italy-may-have-mishandled-early-case-aiding-spread-2020-2