Viral untruths I

We will not in these pages parrot President Trump and call the pathogen that’s spreading sickness and fear the “Chinese virus.” The novel coronavirus pathogen has another name, COVID-19. In a global economy, christening outbreaks based on their place of origin sows resentment and group hatred. There but for the grace of God go we.

Putting that fracas aside, no one should be too shy to say: The Chinese Communist Party dictatorship disastrously botched in its handling of the initial Wuhan outbreak. A coverup cost precious time and countless lives. (The world may also have much to learn from China’s subsequent efforts to contain the outbreak.)

The first person in Wuhan became ill on Dec. 10. By month’s end, health officials tracked a new coronavirus strain to an open-air meat market.

On Dec. 30, the government began shutting down social media discussions on the new virus, detaining Dr. Li Wenliang, a whistleblower for posting concerns over a SARS-like virus.

By Jan. 1, labs analyzing the virus were ordered to destroy samples. The following day, though researchers successfully mapped the COVID-19 genome, the information was kept under wraps over a week as party officials claimed there were no new cases.

That allowed Wuhan visitors to return to homes in Thailand, the U.S. and other places carrying the disease.

The coverup continues, with last week’s expulsion of the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. Separately, China’s propaganda arm spreads the lie that the coronavirus was developed in a U.S. Army lab.

Those are facts.