One of the lessons learned from SARS, according to a World Health Organization report from 2003, was that “attempts to conceal cases of an infectious disease, for fear of social and economic consequences, must be recognized as a short-term stop-gap measure that carries a very high price: the potential for high levels of human suffering and death, [and] loss of credibility in the eyes of the international community.”
The WHO’s conspicuous use of the passive voice was a tepid acknowledgment of what had by then become plainly obvious: China had concealed, distorted and restricted the flow of information on SARS to perilous effect on the rest of the world…
Some attribute the WHO’s early credulousness regarding COVID-19 as a symptom of its excessively close relationship with China. Others cite the typical disarray of a heavily bureaucratic organization inured by internal roadblocks. Whatever the reason, the effect has been that the WHO has appeared perpetually two steps behind during the crucial early months of the outbreak…
The WHO has long opposed travel restrictions to slow the spread of infection, yet countries that closed their borders shortly after their first confirmed coronavirus cases – Greece, for example – have so far seen success in controlling the severity of their outbreaks. And it has advised against the wearing of masks by “healthy” people, even as other countries – South Korea, Austria, the Czech Republic, the United States – immediately, or eventually, recognized their value in preventing shedding by asymptomatic carriers….
Read this full opinion piece in The Globe and Mail here: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-canada-should-take-its-cues-from-countries-where-the-virus-is-under/