COVID-19: The Preventable Pandemic

This story originally was published by Real Clear Wire

By Jeff M. Smith
Real Clear Wire

When the Heritage Foundation released its comprehensive report on the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, headlines tended to focus on the cost to the U.S. That’s not surprising: At an eye-popping $18 trillion, it’s almost 10 times the projected 2024 budget deficit.

Arguably, however, the Commission’s most infuriating conclusion was this: The global pandemic was “totally preventable,” in the words of Commissioner Dr. Robert Redfield, an experienced virologist who headed the CDC during the outbreak.

Had the Chinese government been more transparent and cooperative at the outset of the pandemic, millions of lives and trillions of dollars could have been spared.  » READ MORE