Instead, local officials across the country were left to work in the dark as the crisis grew undetected and exponentially. He insisted that despite the rocky start, there was still time to beat back the coronavirus in the United States. “It’s going to take rigorous, aggressive public health — what I like to say, block and tackle, block and tackle, block and tackle, block and tackle,” he said. Faced with a public health emergency on a scale potentially not seen in a century, the United States has not responded nimbly. In states like Maine, Missouri and Michigan, where there are few or no known infections, state public health officials say they have more than enough tests to meet demand.

Source: New York Times March 11, 2020 01:30 UTC