On coronavirus, we report the facts – and the humanity
“We’re really kind of at that brink. If China can contain their outbreak much better than they are and prevent wide distribution, we could avoid a global pandemic. If they don’t, we’re gonna have a global pandemic. We’re teetering right on the line ...”
This is from Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases, a top U.S. official in charge of our country’s response to the coronavirus. He came to USA TODAY’s Editorial Board meeting Monday to address our questions on the outbreak.
We often invite newsmakers to our Editorial Board to learn more about a specific issue. It’s like a private press conference. We assemble around a conference table. The guest, sitting in the center, opens with a statement. Then we ask anything we want. And it’s all on the record (unless both sides agree to go off ).
Fauci gets updates twice a day on the outbreak (the number of cases was more than 75,000 on Thursday). His phone rang repeatedly during our meeting with him. The night before our interview, he was up late discussing the Americans removed from a quarantined Japanese cruise ship.
We appreciate the candor of our guests, especially in times of fear and misinformation. Fauci didn’t hold back.
Was it a mistake to quarantine the passengers aboard the Diamond Princess in Japan?
“The original statement, which is not unreasonable, was that the best thing to do with these people was to keep them safely quarantined in an infection-control manner on the ship. As it turned out, that was very ineffective in preventing spread on the ship. So the quarantine process failed. I mean, I’d like to sugarcoat it and try to be diplomatic about it, but it failed. I mean, there were people getting infected on that ship. So something went awry in the process of quarantining on that ship. I don’t know what it was, but a lot of people got infected on that ship.”
Could there be a lot of cases in the U.S. we don’t know about?
“The (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is trying to find this out. Are there under-the-radar infections in this country that have gotten in before we did the airport funneling and things? They’re doing a sort of a sentinel surveillance in five cities – New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Chicago – of people who come into clinics with flu-like symptoms but who don’t test positive for the flu.”
Bottom line, how worried should people in America be?
“The risk of coronavirus in this country is still relatively low, but, as I said about the possibility of emerging into a pandemic, this could change. As of today, on the 17th of February, the risk is really relatively low. But we, the public health officials, have to take this seriously enough to be prepared for it changing and there being a pandemic.”
Our job is to give you the facts without contributing to fear. We’ve talked to those kept on the ships, health officials in China and researchers worldwide.
“It’s a new virus. There’s a sense of mystery,” says health reporter Ken Alltucker. “People see images of empty city streets and the mask-clad masses in China and can’t help but feel some anxiety.”
We report on official CDC updates, but we also fact-check the statements against our own newsgathering. Alltucker says the Washington state and Snohomish County public health officials provided more critical details about the nation’s first coronavirus patient – a suburban Seattle man who returned from Wuhan and became ill – than did the CDC.
“We also press agencies,” Alltucker says. “When the FDA did not immediately answer our questions about the status of inspections overseas, we checked the agency’s own database of inspection records that showed the agency had not completed an inspection in China since December.”
We invest time in understanding what our readers need to know, whether it’s reporting on flight cancellations, what’s happening on those cruise ships or which airports are screening for coronavirus. We’ve created interactive graphics that show how the cases exploded over time and how to really wash your hands (yes, you’re doing it wrong).
And, most important, we’re talking to people in the middle of the outbreak, those living through the uncertainty.
Grace Hauck reported on the day-byday unfolding of the outbreak in Wuhan, China, through the experiences of four Americans – how it went from rumor to 2,000 dead.
Diana Adama is an American researcher who has lived in China for about 14 years and moved to Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, in September, She decided to stay in the city hoping to help. She has a background in emergency management and started a website, the Wuhan Warriors Network, to provide information for foreigners.
Hauck says she still gets about 20 messages a day from Adama, many of them asking for help in confirming stories she is hearing. Was this fire caused by disinfectant? Is the number of confirmed cases correct?
“We’re kind of paralyzed. We’re not getting information from the government, school, nothing,” Adama told Hauck. “We’re all cooped up here . ... We are sitting here on ground zero not knowing what to do or who to believe.”
Adama shares videos from life in Wuhan. The closed Walmart. Hospital workers in full protection suits.
And from her apartment window, three people wheeling a gurney through the deserted street below.
Getting and sharing the truth is critical. We’ll keep at it.
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