The US being caught flat-footed, assuming arguendo that we were, is entirely the WHO's fault. The WHO was warned in December that the Wuhan virus was spreading person to person in Taiwan. They sat on this information until Jan. 20. They stole a month of prep time from the rest of the world by hiding key facts to help China avoid embarrassment. The WHO was extremely slow to recommend any of the most sensible routes, such as cutting air traffic. It was the US government, not the WHO, that took the lead in doing those things, because the WHO displayed little concern about the possibility of a pandemic. Their higher priority was helping China attempt to cover their ass. It was a disgrace that will make it extremely hard to trust the WHO going forward. It's not just that they were wrong; they simply decided other things were more important than the health of the world.
As far as stats, given the much higher early estimates of Wuhan virus deaths from the CDC et al, the current much lower estimates can be seen as an encouraging statistical sign that we fared pretty well. After all, so far we've significantly outperformed most experts predictions. We aren't out of the woods yet, but today's reports that at least seven states, including the battered NY, seem to have peaked are really good to hear.
