U.S.-China Bickering Threatens to Hobble World’s Virus Fight
- Confusion over whether China will allow U.S. health experts
- Failure to cooperate may hurt preparation for broader outbreak
Photographer: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
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The U.S. says China won’t let its health workers help fight the virus. Beijing says they’re welcome to come. The World Health Organization says nothing has been decided.
The confusion surrounding a planned WHO mission of experts to China shows how lingering mistrust between the world’s biggest economies could hamper efforts to combat a pathogen quickly spreading across the globe. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the world’s preeminent public health agency, has often played a key role coordinating and funding global efforts to contain past outbreaks, including of Ebola.