This doctor is lying.

The U.S. did not know that this was a highly infectious disease in 2019.

The W.H.O. said on January 14 that it could not be transmitted from person-to-peron.

China did not admit that it could be transmitted person-to-person till January 21. https://twitter.com/benyt/status/1245529084534366208

Here is the World Health Organization on January 14 https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1217043229427761152

Here is a Reuters report showing that China did not admit that it could be transmitted from person-to-person till January

Even when China finally admitted it, they didn't make it sound like it was highly infectious, which it is https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/21/china-coronavirus-human-to-human-transmission-confirmed.html