The Trump administration cut a CDC position in China meant to detect disease outbreaks months before the coronavirus pandemic
Until July 2019, the United States had a resident health adviser in China that consulted with Chinese health officials. That position was scrapped,
, amid a chill in US-Chinese relations." It was heartbreaking to watch," said one expert. Several US health experts told Reuters that
the US could have gotten an early jump on the new coronavirus outbreak if the role still existed.
In the position — officially known as the resident adviser to the US Field Epidemiology Training Program in China — Quick trained field epidemiologists who helped track, investigate and contain diseases at the epicenter of outbreaks, according to Reuters.
The role was discontinued, according to one expert, because .
Thomas Frieden, former director of the CDC, told Reuters that if Quick's position still existed, "
it is possible that we would know more today about how this coronavirus is spreading and what works best to stop it."
"The message from the administration was, '
Don't work with China, they're our rival,'" said Frieden.