A U.S. Embassy Refused to Test Exposed Staff for Coronavirus
By Jake Adelstein
Symptoms of bureaucratic blindness: Tokyo embassy employees who visited infected American patients from the cruise ship Diamond Princess were told they didn’t need tests.
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The Daily Beast has learned that the embassy exposed at least five employees to fully virulent coronavirus sufferers from the cruise ship Diamond Princess last month, and when they all asked to be tested, the U.S Embassy Tokyo Deputy Consul General Timothy G. Smith not only refused to do so unless they exhibited symptoms, he strongly discouraged them from getting outside testing.
Given mounting evidence that the disease can be transmitted by people with few or no symptoms, that would seem to be the height of folly. But in the mire of bureaucratic and political stubbornness, great plagues can grow.
Our questions about this issue, when put to the embassy, were kicked to the State Department in Washington, which gave this response on Monday:
“Throughout this crisis, we have continuously worked hard to ensure the safety of our staff, including through training and the provision of appropriate personal protective equipment by U.S. Government medical professionals. All health and safety protocols have been strictly followed.”
Okay. But what about getting tested on their own?
“All health and safety protocols have been strictly followed in accordance with U.S. and local requirements and standards. If required, any testing would be done in coordination and consultation with health authorities.”
From such vague responses to specific questions it‘s clear that, as our reporting shows, actual testing for infection is not part of the program–unless there are symptoms.
The United States would not be the first country to make this mistake. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in Japan also refused initially to test the 90 officials and health-care workers who had been on the Diamond Princess, asserting that all safety protocols had been followed . Now 10 or more of them have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, after first returning to work.
Is it a coverup, a fuckup, a compromise or just the way things are? Hard to say, but the Tokyo embassy scandal raises questions the entire United States and its public servants will be facing soon:
Do we test first-responders for the virus? When do we test them? Do we test them only when they’re ill, thus ensuring the virus will spread, or do we test them routinely if they are in contact with the infected?
You‘d think the answers would be obvious, but the embassy example shows they are not.
Furthermore, how do we quarantine these workers if they are positive? Do we treat U.S. State Department staff or military who get ill in their host countries while they are there? Or do we take them home and treat them in the USA?
more:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/the-us-embassy-in-tokyo-refused-to-test-exposed-staff-for-coronavirus?via=newsletter&source=DDMorning
DO SOMETHING!
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