[cgbg]

Looking back it looks like we had two separate problems:

—Lack of lab equipment needed to use test kits even if they had the kits

—CDC stupidity, incompetence, stonewalling

The other new thing I learned today was just how stupid the Secretary of HHS is. You can’t fix stupid, you just can’t.

[janetjanet998]

—CDC stupidity, incompetence, stonewalling

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did you see this part? They went against the CDC and started testing anyway to find cases!!

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As luck would have it, Dr. Chu had a way to monitor the region. For months, as part of a research project into the flu, she and a team of researchers had been collecting nasal swabs from residents experiencing symptoms throughout the Puget Sound region.

To repurpose the tests for monitoring the coronavirus, they would need the support of state and federal officials. But nearly everywhere Dr. Chu turned, officials repeatedly rejected the idea, interviews and emails show, even as weeks crawled by and outbreaks emerged in countries outside of China, where the infection began.

By Feb. 25, Dr. Chu and her colleagues could not bear to wait any longer. They began performing coronavirus tests, without government approval.

What came back confirmed their worst fear. They quickly had a positive test from a local teenager with no recent travel history.