So I have been biting my tongue after a few days of nonsense. It's no secret that most facets of this response are frustrating. Send a socially distanced hug to your favorite responder (not me, don't touch me at all) because this is draining.

But a few words on the WHO funding

I spent part of my time at @StateDept working on the strategy to fund the WHO for the Ebola response. 3 big takeaways from that time:

1) WHO is grossly underfunded
2) Everyone there is passionate and committed
3) We do not fund the WHO to do the things "we" think it should do

We want a disaster response, public health preparedness, health standard setting organization. We fund it to be an aggregator of nation-state public health work and support to regions who are also grossly underfunded.

They're capable, but underresourced.

It's the most blatant health example of underfunding a system and then punishing it for underperforming.

There have been H1N1, SARS, Ebola outbreaks (PLURAL), Zika, MERS, COVID-19... and we're still debating the need to fully fund and resource the WHO? Egregious.