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Covid-19 Was 'A Preventable Disaster,' WHO-Ordered Report Says

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Re: Covid-19 Was 'A Preventable Disaster,' WHO-Ordered Report Says

#51
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bioweapon? A new strain of virus that can mutate to unknown properties, and to which virtually nobody have immunity?

Chinese scientists discussed weaponizing SARS in 2015 ( https://www.ibtimes.com/explosive-report-says-chinese-scient... ).

The chain of references here is:

IBTimes quotes "The Australian" newspaper. (Murdoch)

"The Australian" quotes the book "The Unnatural Origin of SARS and New Species of Man-Made Viruses as Genetic Bioweapon".

The above book is based on a discredited claim that the US engineered SARS as a weapon against China, which has now been twisted into a counter claim that China in turn engineered COVID against the US (see below).

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/going-viral-how-a-book-on-...

Re: Covid-19 Was 'A Preventable Disaster,' WHO-Ordered Report Says

#52

Objectively, Covid-19 was a preventable disaster. From all around the world, the issue was governmental competence. Almost every government in the world did not treat the issue with the due amount of urgency. Almost every government in the world screwed up on airborne transmission for a good while. Almost every government downright minimized the issued and wasted precious months of time that could have been used to r…

> Why is it that governments are so competent when it comes to mass surveillance and repression $ 7,919,196,000 – CDC FY 2020 total funding $13,316,000,000 – CVN-78, USS Gerald R. Ford $62,000,000,000 – National Intelligence Program FY 2020

[deleted]

Re: Covid-19 Was 'A Preventable Disaster,' WHO-Ordered Report Says

#53
post #35

Man, all the WHO bashing comments are getting downvoted pretty quickly, except: - WHO took a _long_ time to declare a pandemic when member countries were asking for it. - WHO actively discouraged international border closures for containment. - WHO took way too long to declare aerosol transmission even when countries had identified it. In a global scale event like this, there's no individual country who should have b…

Also WHO told people not to wear masks and that it could actually make it more likely to get covid (CDC echoed this as well). “But it was justified lying to protect the mask supply!”—some people already had masks, and didn’t wear them because of this. I had someone literally get mad at me and block me because I said wearing a mask was obviously a good idea, and an N95 is more likely to protect you than a cloth mask.

This was very early in the pandemic, I doubt that many people had masks early, and the problem of people hoarding was very real and medical professionals were having a lot of difficulty acquiring PPE.

I think it was a difficult situation, I don't think they handled it the best they could have, but the response (in the context of massive amounts of hoarding) was understandable.

I know that this will not be a popular take here.

Re: Covid-19 Was 'A Preventable Disaster,' WHO-Ordered Report Says

#55
I always wondered why people thought quicker lockdowns in Chyna would have stopped covid-19 from spreading since no one knew who was infected and a single person who escaped the country during the arbitrary quarantine would have made the whole thing pointless. I'm also confused why they think a virus with such a low death rate is important. The only thing I can think of is a shocking percent of people don't actually use their own brains for thinking. It's kind of scary man.

Re: Covid-19 Was 'A Preventable Disaster,' WHO-Ordered Report Says

#56
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also WHO told people not to wear masks and that it could actually make it more likely to get covid (CDC echoed this as well). “But it was justified lying to protect the mask supply!”—some people already had masks, and didn’t wear them because of this. I had someone literally get mad at me and block me because I said wearing a mask was obviously a good idea, and an N95 is more likely to protect you than a cloth mask.

This was very early in the pandemic, I doubt that many people had masks early, and the problem of people hoarding was very real and medical professionals were having a lot of difficulty acquiring PPE. I think it was a difficult situation, I don't think they handled it the best they could have, but the response (in the context of massive amounts of hoarding) was understandable. I know that this will not be a popular t…

[deleted]

Re: Covid-19 Was 'A Preventable Disaster,' WHO-Ordered Report Says

#57
post #30

Man, all the WHO bashing comments are getting downvoted pretty quickly, except: - WHO took a _long_ time to declare a pandemic when member countries were asking for it. - WHO actively discouraged international border closures for containment. - WHO took way too long to declare aerosol transmission even when countries had identified it. In a global scale event like this, there's no individual country who should have b…

WHO bears no responsibility (better word: accountability) as it is comprised of member states who define and fund it, that do. Findings, medical experts, doctors come from member state contributions. Given conflicting reports, underreporting, unknowns, denials, how this virus transmits, this could only be handled better with crisis policies. The world didn't operate in crisis mode until now.

I think identifying pandemics is literally a defined responsibility of the WHO. Regarding which, the WHO-commissioned report states:

"The WHO waited too long to declare a public health emergency of international concern, the panel said, after the reporting of an initial cluster of cases in December 2019."

Re: Covid-19 Was 'A Preventable Disaster,' WHO-Ordered Report Says

#58

Man, all the WHO bashing comments are getting downvoted pretty quickly, except: - WHO took a _long_ time to declare a pandemic when member countries were asking for it. - WHO actively discouraged international border closures for containment. - WHO took way too long to declare aerosol transmission even when countries had identified it. In a global scale event like this, there's no individual country who should have b…

The WHO lost a lot of credibility (deserved or not). They clearly either did not have a good grasp of the science and evidence while they were issuing their proclamations, or they were attempting to steer reality away from certain problematic scenarios for certain interests that have corrupted the organization. Or both.

The bigger problem was not the WHO, it's very common for such organizations to be highly dysfunctional and corrupted. It was the slavish adherence to authority (aka boot licking), and piling on, bullying and hatefully attacking anybody who dared to question this corrupt authority. Everyone was getting in on the action, from mega corporations to the average "useful idiot" internet bully.

Unfortunately it's a big problem for some people who put politics above reality to cope with that idea, because WHO is on "their side", for various reasons.

Re: Covid-19 Was 'A Preventable Disaster,' WHO-Ordered Report Says

#59
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also WHO told people not to wear masks and that it could actually make it more likely to get covid (CDC echoed this as well). “But it was justified lying to protect the mask supply!”—some people already had masks, and didn’t wear them because of this. I had someone literally get mad at me and block me because I said wearing a mask was obviously a good idea, and an N95 is more likely to protect you than a cloth mask.

This was very early in the pandemic, I doubt that many people had masks early, and the problem of people hoarding was very real and medical professionals were having a lot of difficulty acquiring PPE. I think it was a difficult situation, I don't think they handled it the best they could have, but the response (in the context of massive amounts of hoarding) was understandable. I know that this will not be a popular t…

Half a year into the pandemic the president of the United States was filling stadiums was maskless supporters. The WHO seems completely willing to fall on their sword over COVID, and indeed they failed in many ways. But in the long run, we’re seeing a disaster of anti intellectualism around the world, and the next pandemic may be just as bad as this one.

Re: Covid-19 Was 'A Preventable Disaster,' WHO-Ordered Report Says

#60
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WHO bears no responsibility (better word: accountability) as it is comprised of member states who define and fund it, that do. Findings, medical experts, doctors come from member state contributions. Given conflicting reports, underreporting, unknowns, denials, how this virus transmits, this could only be handled better with crisis policies. The world didn't operate in crisis mode until now.

Original submitter comment: Agreed. However, I am a dual US|EU (Croatian) citizen living in Croatia. I am culturally American. The US had the expertise, technological capacity, and economic investment capacity to be able to eradicate the virus. Very few governments have similar resources and the ability to scale like the US government, which is quite unique. The issue was the political party that we had in place, wit…

> The US had the expertise, technological capacity, and economic investment capacity

And incompetent leadership that foundered an opportunity to be the heroes of a generation.

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