◼ COVID-19 / GOVERNMENT March 16, 202016
y did
containment
fail?
○ Patient zero for the new coronavirus outbreak in
the U.S. appeared to do everything right. He arrived
on Jan. 19 at an urgent-care clinic in a suburb north
of Seattle with a slightly elevated temperature and
a cough he’d developed soon after returning four
days earlier from a visit with family in Wuhan, China.
The 35-year-old had seen a U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention alert about the virus and
decided to get checked. He put on a mask in the wait-
ing room. After learning about his travel, the clinic
drew blood and swabbed his nose and throat, then
called state and county health officials, who hus-
tled the sample onto an overnight flight to the CDC
lab in Atlanta. The patient was told to stay in isola-
tion at home, and health officials checked on him
the next morning.
The test came back positive that afternoon, Jan. 20,
the first confirmed case in the U.S. By 11 p.m., the
patient was in a plastic-enclosed isolation gurney
on his way to a biocontainment ward at Providence
Regional Medical Center in Everett, Wash., a two-
bed unit developed for the Ebola virus. As his condi-
tion worsened, then improved over the next several
days, staff wore protective garb that included helmets
and face masks. Few entered the room; a robot
equipped with a stethoscope took vitals and had
a video screen for doctors to talk to him from afar.
County health officials located more than 60 people
who’d come into contact with him, and none devel-
oped the virus in the following weeks. By Feb. 21 he
was deemed fully recovered.
Somehow, someone was missed. All the care-
ful medical detective work, it’s now clear, wasn’t
enough. In February firefighters in Kirkland,
Wash., began making frequent visits to a nursing
home where residents complained of respiratory
problems—evidence of continuing transmission
that burst into public view on Feb. 29 when officials
announced the first sicknesses, and later multiple
deaths, of people at the facility from Covid-19, the
disease caused by the virus.
The Seattle area, which had 260 infections and
deaths as of March 10, is, for now, the center of the
most severe U.S. outbreak. That may change soon.town,” wrote Stephen Stanley, chief economist at
Amherst Pierpont, in a note to clients, in which he
also warned against thinking that additional Federal
Reserve easing or fiscal stimulus could do much
good. “I would argue that the most important front
right now is the public health response,” he wrote,
which has “been underwhelming.”
For a president who often measures his success
by how well stocks are faring, the market plunge was
enough to reverse course on the need for economic
stimulus. Trump announced he would meet with
congressional officials soon to work on a measure
to provide “substantial relief,” including to indus-
tries that have been hit by the virus.● What can we do
to catch up?
Comparisons with other countries’ responses high-
light the U.S.’s lack of central coordination. Singapore
is the standout, says Eurasia’s Bremmer. The coun-
try responded quickly and transparently, giving the
public a wealth of information about how to protect
itself. For example, the government created an app
to inform users where people with the virus had vis-
ited so others could avoid those places. South Korea
is a close second, Bremmer says: It created drive-thru
testing centers, among other measures.
The U.S. effort is moving toward what those
countries have done, belatedly. The CDC is advis-
ing high-risk people to stock up on medicine, food,
and household necessities and to avoid crowds and
contact with people who are sick. Conferences, fes-
tivals, sporting events, college classes, and busi-
ness travel are being sharply curtailed. Under
pressure from governors, several large health
insurance companies said they’d waive patients’
costs for coronavirus tests. Labs in every state are
now capable of testing for the virus. But Illinois
Governor J.B. Pritzker said on March 10 he was
“frustrated” by the federal government’s lack of
assistance with testing.
For now, the Pollyanna-ish tone at the top has died
down. On Feb. 27, CDC Director Robert Redfield down-
played Messonnier’s warning that the virus would
spread beyond those who had traveled to China
or come into contact with an infected person. By
March 10, he conceded to House lawmakers that the
U.S. is past a containment-only approach and must
now try to limit the virus’s impact: “In some areas,
we’re in high mitigation.” �Margaret Newkirk and
Paula Dwyer, with Justin Sink, Mario Parker, Jennifer
Jacobs, John Tozzi, and Steve Matthews