CDC official admits that due in part to limited testing and delayed travel alerts, the US missed chances to slow the spread of the coronavirus

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

• Limited testing and delayed travel alerts for areas outside China contributed to the jump in US cases starting in late February, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the No. 2 official at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• "We clearly didn't recognize the full importations that were happening," Schuchat told The Associated Press.
• Schuchat noted that nearly 2 million travelers arrived in the US from Italy and other European countries during February. The US government didn't block travel from there until March 11.
• "The extensive travel from Europe, once Europe was having outbreaks, really accelerated our importations and the rapid spread," she told the AP. "I think the timing of our travel alerts should have been earlier."
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NEW YORK (AP) — The US government was slow to understand how much the coronavirus was spreading from Europe, which helped drive the acceleration of outbreaks across the nation, a top health official said Friday.

Limited testing and delayed travel alerts for areas outside China contributed to the jump in US cases starting in late February, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the No. 2 official at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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