China: * Covered up COVID-19 for a couple weeks Trump: * Repeatedly said COVID-19 was about to disappear * Discouraged mask-wearing * Promoted quack cures * Called on armed protesters to stop social distancing measures * Tried to reduce testing to cover up a rise in cases
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Replying to @jbarro
Were they though? Seems vanishingly unlikely that China could have stamped out the virus before it escaped their borders. And as for warning time, we had all the warning time in the world.
13 replies 3 retweets 106 likes -
Replying to @Noahpinion @jbarro
COVID-19 was in France in December. https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200506/first-french-covid-19-patient-was-admitted-in-december … The weeks when China covered it up were in January. https://www.wired.com/story/inside-the-early-days-of-chinas-coronavirus-coverup/ … China couldn't have possibly contained COVID within its borders.
7 replies 10 retweets 51 likes -
Replying to @Noahpinion @jbarro
December report is scientifically shaky. Meh plausibility. Many places got first introduction that led to transmission chains in late January/February. This virus is overdispersed, a lot of introductions don’t lead to anything. China could have supressed the whole pandemic.
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"China could have supressed the whole pandemic." <-- There's no evidence for this, and massive evidence against this.
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Replying to @Noahpinion @jbarro
Of course there is. There was fewer than 100 cases at the end of Dec, and their doctors were screaming, and being shut down, that this was a SARS-like coronavirus. They had the genome, hence PCR tests. Lots of places have suppressed epidemics much larger. Nothing to reintroduce.
6 replies 0 retweets 21 likes
The world was able to eliminate SARS in 2003. Now there are a few things in favor of SARS, but with an early start, and known transmission links and a focal point of origin, it was absolutely plausible. They screwed themselves first with the local cover-up, then the world.
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