Could the US Contain a Coronavirus Outbreak?

Since then, tens of millions of people have been living under government-imposed quarantine, forced to stay in their homes or rounded up into makeshift field hospitals.Disease-response experts in the US have puzzled over these escalating efforts—a public health playbook ripped from the era before drugs and vaccines (and air travel). “There’s no question that China’s bold approach to the rapid spread of this new respiratory pathogen has changed the course of what was a rapidly escalating—and continues to be a deadly—epidemic,” Aylward told reporters Monday at a press conference organized by the Chinese National Health Commission in Beijing.Epidemiologists at Imperial College London and Hong Kong University have questioned the reliability of the Chinese government’s data that’s being used as evidence of a slowdown, citing recent changes to how individuals are officially diagnosed, testing kit shortages, and the potential for political corruption. “We have far more choice in rejecting government recommendations here in the US,” added Mariner.What Mariner said is lacking from the quarantine conversation are policies that would make it possible for people to stay home voluntarily. “The data over the last week showing the spread of Covid-19 in other countries has raised our concerns and raised the expectation that we are going to have community spread here,” she said.In addition to Italy, South Korea, and Iran are both experiencing explosive new outbreaks, suggesting that the coronavirus is picking up steam elsewhere in the world, even as it slows down in China, where more than 77,000 people so far have gotten sick and 2,663 have died. A spokesperson for the organization declined to answer specifics about supporting additional quarantine efforts, telling WIRED only that it is closely monitoring the evolving situation and working with government agencies and state officials to determine what Red Cross support may be needed in the coming days and weeks.Earlier this month, the US Food and Drug Administration fast-tracked a test developed by the CDC for diagnosing Covid-19.