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ANATOMY OF A FAILURE

Thailand Had Working Coronavirus Tests in Hours. It Took the U.S. 46 Days.

The World Health Organization on Jan. 13 made public its recipe for a test to detect the coronavirus. Most countries deployed theirs in hours or days. It took us weeks.

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Loren Elliott/Reuters

By Olivia Messer

The World Health Organization on Jan. 13 made public its recipe for a test to detect the novel coronavirus. Most countries, like Thailand, deployed theirs in hours—or days. It took the United States weeks—exactly 46 days—to do the exact same, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention opted to develop their own, over-complicated version. That move, and subsequent missteps, “squandered weeks” and set back the American response to the deadly pandemic significantly, according to a new report by The Washington Post.

Read it at The Washington Post

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