By the time this pandemic runs its course, both the CDC and the FDA could suffer huge credibility losses both here and globally that may require a major overhaul and many years to recover from. If it recasts the perception that the entire political apparatus is deeply corrupt and misguided, will we respond with the arrogance of our own perceived exceptionalism, or accept our wayward drift and move to reform? The status of the USA as global leader may be headed for a day of reckoning.