A Central Michigan University professor was recently part of a study that looked into how the first affected Asian countries addressed the coronavirus early on.
James A. Johnson, medical social scientist and professor in the Doctor of Health Administration, worked with Ning Lu, Kai-Wen Cheng, Nafees Qamar, and Kuo-Cherh Huang. They explored the coronavirus response in China, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.
Johnson said nationwide testing is key in containing the virus. “These countries did vigorous and widespread testing early on because they wanted to see where and what parts of their country and what populations, which cities and so forth, that was showing the virus,” he said.
Johnson said the U.S. does not surveille other countries sufficiently. “Other countries can be an early warning sign,” he said. “If we had been watching, say China in this case, back in November, we would have some early warning signs that this could go beyond epidemic to pandemic.”
This story was produced as part of the Michigan News Group internship program… a collaboration between WCMU and local newspapers. Aurora is based at the Huron Daily Tribune.
