It is common for humans to need and want to blame others, as that removes much of the sense of responsibility and accountability for those who find fault in others and that leads to much less compliance of the suggestions that are being laid out to help for today and the future. China may very well been lax in alerting other nations, but that does not change the fact that little was done to get prepared when good information was shared back in miid-January. We are also hearing reports of under-reporting of cases either through poor communications or deliberate not stating the totals. We also have to remember that only weeks ago the administration was calling this a hoax which kept millions of Americans from taking any of this seriously at all or in fact probably rebelling against compliance with health officials. Since Watergate Americans have lost much respect for government and political leaders of any party and we have had several situations where incidents have occurred to continue that lack of trust. This situation is no different. I do believe that Americans have been wanting and willing to hear the truth be it good, bad or ugly but for some reason after almost 50 years of playing politics the way we have leaders just can't do the obvious or think citizens will over react and yes they do, not so much by the truth or straight talk but by the lack of facts, truth and openness. Secrets always hurt more than the truth, short and long term. We are now poised if this goes south to have significant economic impacts that could last up to a decade. If thousands of small businesses fail or millions of workers fail then starting from scratch is a much longer haul than rebooting what we have now.

Bryce

Why would China want to tank our economy if we are one of their largest buyers of factory goods?

it was E.T.----------Eddie Torrez,the extra testicle

The truth is no one knows the complete truth at this time. It's just Osterholm views and he is not ruling it out, just doubts it to be true. He is also trying to sell his book. What we do know is China is not our friend and terrorist and America’s enemies are taking notice. Here is another view and there are many other views on each side of the issue. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWT9RRzQpS8

I would believe a Democrat far left of course could be behind it ! LOL

I appreciate that you acknowledge that there are many views on each side of the issue and that no one knows the truth. That is a great way to put it and also very fair.

I watched the entire link you posted and find it hard to take seriously, but that is just my opinion. All journalism has a slant to it, and this channel is not exception.

Osterholm's book on bioterror in the US was released 20 years ago...I don't think he was trying too hard to sell that one. He presented a much better case, discussed things from a scientific perspective, etc. I'm going to side (at least for now) with a Minnesota boy who is a fairly recognized disease expert. That's just my opinion

The first minutes of this podcast are good. If anyone is interested, at 19:30 Osterholm directly discusses why, based on his career, COVID-19 is likely not a weapon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3URhJx0NSw