Ośrodek Studiów Amerykańskich UW

Very late in 2019 Western intelligence began to have insight that an epidemic was forming in central China, Hubei Province, Wuhan City. Because China was uncooperative, it remained unclear what the significance of this disease would be until very early in 2020 when China cordoned off Wuhan and other parts of Hubei Province. President Donald J. Trump then closed America to non-American arrivals from china, followed by non-American arrivals from many locations. As many states in the United States began to enforce isolation, American and other Western governments began to investigate the source of what became designated as the COVID-19, or Coronavirus Disease 2019. This investigation continues, with France and the United Kingdom demanding answers from China to questions of security at its P-4 high security virology laboratories situated nearby the epicenter of this pandemic. Derivative questions emerged when ventilators, personal protective equipment (PPE) and other emergency resources including testing kits coming from China arrived late, were over-priced, failed to work. An important question follows: what must the United States and other Western countries including Poland do in future to be more fully prepared for this sort of pandemic?