When is a pandemic not a pandemic?

Is it a pandemic or is it not a pandemic? Since the world has never had a chance to make a call like this at the outset of a pandemic, nobody is quite sure how to handle it. The usual definition — an epidemic (an increase in cases beyond what is expected) of global dimension — has a lot of wiggle room and WHO and everyone else is busy wiggling. One reason is not whether this meets the definition or not but what the consequences might be of calling this “a pandemic”

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