2019-NCOV Political Framing and Blame-Gaming

In this paper, Dr. Srini Sitaraman demonstrates how the mechanisms of political interference have historically resulted in disastrous outcomes in battling pandemics, and highlights this repeating pattern with COVID-19.

Excerpt:
According to an American intelligence assessment, the conclusion that 2019-nCoV is “not manmade or genetically modified” is the current official position. However, intelligence officials continue to explore “whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan.” Several governments have called for independent inquiries into the origins of 2019-nCoV and publicly issued calls for re-examining economic and political relations with China. The Chinese government has aggressively reacted with threats against the European Union, Australia, United Kingdom, and Canada.