It's a bit more complicated than that -- here's the Taiwan CDC's history -- www.cdc.gov.tw/En/Bulletin/... -- for sure everyone quickly wished they operated on the assumption of significant human-to-human transmission like Taiwan did at borders and like some hospitals did in Wuhan.

"There is no spread of this virus in our communities here at home. This is why our current assessment is that the immediate health risk of this new virus to the general public is low in our nation" -- that's from a press conference elsewhere in the world weeks later.

Continuing, "The coming days and weeks are likely to bring more confirmed cases here and around the world, including the possibility of some person to person spread." -- although it's convenient to have someone to blame, people in China are hardly unique with bad wait-and-see reflexes.

Mmm no No other major country has China’s track record of lying and covering up the spread of viruses www.theguardian.com/society/2003...