Fault lies with belated US response, cursing China won't change that

The US administration has been busy trying to convince anyone who will listen that China is to blame for the United States now having the highest number of novel coronavirus infections outside of China and Italy.

At least 35,211 US citizens have been infected with the virus, of whom 471 have died. And the US is now the country in which the virus is spreading the fastest. On Monday afternoon, the increase of confirmed cases over the preceding 24 hours was 8,464 in the US, more than the 5,560 reported in Italy.

Yet the administration was forewarned of the danger. China started regularly informing the US of the latest development of the epidemic situation in Wuhan and the measures it was taking on Jan 3. The following day, the heads of the two countries' centers for disease control talked on the telephone and they agreed to strengthen their information exchanges and technology collaboration.

Since then, all relevant departments of the two countries have maintained communication with each other, and two US experts were also among the World Health Organization's investigation team that conducted a nine-day fact-finding mission in China in February. China has never stopped sharing its epidemic control experience with the US, and medical professionals from the two sides have also communicated on treatment techniques.

US President Donald Trump acknowledged the efforts being made by the Chinese people to contain the virus, and he expressed his appreciation of China's endeavors and transparency in a tweet on Jan 25. He again spoke highly of China's response to the epidemic in a phone call with President Xi Jinping on Feb 7. And as recently as March 13, he told reporters that China's sharing of its data was helping the US to deal with the virus.

Alex Azar, US secretary of health and human services, also praised China on Jan 28 for sharing the genetic sequencing of the virus, which enabled the CDC to quickly invent a diagnostic test and the National Institutes of Health to rapidly advance a potential vaccine.

So with the situation worsening in the US, the question is naturally being asked: Just what was the administration doing in the way of epidemic prevention and control since it learned of the outbreak in China at the beginning of January?

Some US media outlets have shown how the window of opportunity was wasted. Different departments kicked the ball to each other and the White House was intent on trying to downplay the crisis. As such, it was the inability of the US government to respond effectively that has created the situation the country is in now.

As the government has been dysfunctional, the US still lacks test kits for the virus. It is only a matter of time before it becomes the hardest hit country in the world. The US administration's attempts to pin the blame on China are not going to alter that, nor let it shrug off its responsibility for the mess.