Four years after the United States pledged to help the world fight infectious-disease epidemics such as Ebola, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is dramatically downsizing its epidemic prevention activities in 39 out of 49 countries because money is running out, U.S. government officials said.

The CDC programs, part of a global health security initiative, train front-line workers in outbreak detection and work to strengthen laboratory and emergency response systems in countries where disease risks are greatest. The goal is to stop future outbreaks at their source.

… Global health organizations said critical momentum will be lost if epidemic prevention funding is reduced, leaving the world unprepared for the next outbreak. The risks of deadly and costly pandemic threats are higher than ever, especially in low- and middle-income countries with the weakest public health systems, experts say. A rapid response by a country can mean the difference between an isolated outbreak and a global catastrophe. In less than 36 hours, infectious disease and pathogens can travel from a remote village to major cities on any continent to become a global crisis.

Yes indeed, China was one of those countries.


And in May 2018, Trump fired (yes, “fired”, Politifact, let’s not play games here) his pandemic response team. Again, Washington Post:

The top White House official responsible for leading the U.S. response in the event of a deadly pandemic has left the administration, and the global health security team he oversaw has been disbanded under a reorganization by national security adviser John Bolton.

The abrupt departure of Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer from the National Security Council means no senior administration official is now focused solely on global health security. Ziemer’s departure, along with the breakup of his team, comes at a time when many experts say the country is already underprepared for the increasing risks of a pandemic or bioterrorism attack.

Ziemer’s last day was Tuesday, the same day a new Ebola outbreak was declared in Congo. He is not being replaced.

It’s almost too obvious to point out Trump’s utter incompetence, incoherence, and out-to-lunchness. Back when we had ordinary human beings as president, you wouldn’t expect that the POTUS would be the deepest-informed (as a non-specialist); but you would expect them to be reliable, on top of the situation, and basically focused on the public interest. Here, I’d say the fish rots from the head, but there is no head. The public has gotten so used to his worthlessness that we just look somewhere else for useful information and action.

I’m really not used to that, still. I never will be.

Again, accountability is political.