Inside America's 2-Decade Failure to Prepare for Coronavirus

The nation's health secretary was warned about a possible pandemic - and, he admits now, he didn't take that first warning seriously enough. But he studied with experts at the Centers of Disease Control. He read papers on virology. He took his concerns to the president. And months later, the administration unveiled a plan to tackle the virus emerging out of Asia, investing in therapies and warning Americans to stock up on canned goods.

It's a moment that feels ripped from the headlines about the current coronavirus crisis. But the year was 2005, not 2020.

And for his troubles, that health secretary - Bush appointee Mike Leavitt - was mocked as an alarmist by political rivals and late-night comics, even as that year's threat of avian flu petered out around the globe.