Coronavirus Response: Trump Administration Removed CDC Disease Expert Position In China Prior To Pandemic, Report Says

The Trump administration removed a U.S. public health position in China assisting Beijing with disease detection just months prior to the coronavirus outbreak, according to a Reuters report Monday.

The post, officially known as the Resident Adviser to the U.S. Field Epidemiology Training Program in China, was discontinued in September, amid diplomatic tension between Washington and Beijing due to the ongoing trade war.

Dr. Linda Quick, a medical epidemiologist, left the post in July, sources told the news outlet. The job was funded by the Centers for Disease Control, and she prepared Chinese epidemiologists to tackle disease outbreaks. The post was not filled again after her departure.

“It was heartbreaking to watch,” Bao Zhu, a Chinese American who served in the same role from 2007 to 2011, told Reuters. “If someone had been there, public health officials and governments across the world could have moved much faster.”

If Quick had kept her job, she could have helped warn the U.S. government about the coronavirus. The virus, which originated in the city of Wuhan, could have emerged as early as November.

President Trump has been often criticized for his response to the coronavirus, and for disbanding a pandemics unit on the National Security Council. Trump has frequently said the virus “came out of nowhere” and “blindsided the world,” but the Washington Post has reported that Trump ignored intelligence reports warning of the virus in January and February.

According to Johns Hopkins University, there are at least 35,345 cases of coronavirus in the United States, with the domestic death toll at 473. The World Health Organization has said that the pandemic is accelerating, as global cases exceed 350,000 and the worldwide death toll soars past 15,000.