China messed up so much because during the first attempt at gathering data Chinese politics never left the room (paraphrasing a member of that first group). China messed up but will never accept blame. China messed up and lied, tried to cover up their evidence, and alas...the initial group of investigators found squat. No surprise for anyone who is familiar with China's "save face at all costs" top priority. The fact that experts cannot agree supports the evidence was buried. We can only hope the next group that's going in will be capable of learning the truth. I hate to doubt but considering it's now over a year out....I will still hold out hope but it's going to take effort.
Of primary importance to China is the fact that they limited the deaths to the Corona virus to something in the vicinity of 5000.
America's incidence of death to the virus would be something close to 4000 times that, per capita difference considered.
America is the greatest military power on the face of the earth by far, but now can claim superiority on one more factor!
Evidence tells a different story about China. China did not limit deaths because they could have stopped it from spreading in its early phase.
Fact: "The
censorship on Jan. 1 of eight doctors who tried to issue an early warning has become a lightning rod for public anger over the government’s slow initial response. But it’s now emerged that there were at least four other key moments in which authorities could’ve slowed the spread of the virus if they had acted more quickly to educate the public and limit travel and mass gatherings."
Fact: China delayed giving WHO crucial information when it could have containted virus.
Fact: "After SARS, Chinese health officials built an infectious disease reporting system to evade political meddling. But when the coronavirus emerged, so did fears of upsetting Beijing." After
doctors in Wuhan began treating clusters of patients stricken with a mysterious pneumonia in December, the reporting was supposed to have been automatic. Instead however, hospitals deferred to local health officials who, over a political aversion to sharing bad news, withheld information about cases from the national reporting system — keeping Beijing in the dark and delaying the response.
Even after Beijing got involved, local officials set narrow criteria for confirming cases, leaving out information that could have provided clues that the virus was spreading among humans.
After SARS, Chinese health officials built an infectious disease reporting system to evade political meddling. But when the coronavirus emerged, so did fears of upsetting Beijing.
www.nytimes.com