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> “Locally, domestically for China, they delayed action, but we have very little idea about what deterred quicker action – was it because, like the mayor said, the delay of the central government? Or really because of his delay?” says Xi Chen, an assistant professor at the Yale School of Public Health.

> “There was strong evidence of human-to-human transmission but they were not able to release this information in a timely way. I don’t know what happened then,” he says. “But people have died.”

https://multimedia.scmp.com/infographics/news/china/article/3052721/wuhan-killer/index.html [multimedia scmp com]

This is one of the negatives about a permission-based (e.g., ask first before you do anything or you risk being punished) environment. It isn't just China's government that is permission-based. Some federal government agencies (and likely some state and local government agencies) are run in a similar manner. (I'm sure some corporations are likewise run in this manner, but I've not been in non-government employment in almost two decades.)

When some action needs to be taken, the people proximate to the situation are unwilling to act, because higher-ups have not instructed them to do so.

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