Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Outbreaks of lethal diseases like Ebola and the Wuhan coronavirus happen regularly. The U.S. government just cut funding for the hospitals that deal with them
Saskia Popescu, an infection prevention epidemiologist, discusses the U.S. health strategy of tiered response systems for hospitals faced with patients infected with special pathogens, as well as federal funding for the program which is set to expire this year. Popescu concludes, “The next epidemic could start with a patient checking in at a local urgent care clinic. Congress needs to ask if its current plan for special pathogen response prepares the country for that. It’s likely the answer is no” (1/22).