Following organized, rational procedure is exactly what is needed in times of widespread panic. If the WHO based their decisions such as this one on emotions like fear or intuition then they really would be damaging their credibility. Let's be honest, if countries hadn't been enforcing proper procedures to this point, how likely is it that a label by the WHO would make that much of an impact to governments?
Now, inactive governments may be held accountable of not listening to the WHO. Also, calling it a pandemic 2 weeks ago (or more) would have been perfectly rational.
They didn't base their decision on the observed growth curve. Anyone looking at the data could have called this a pandemic the moment it left Asia.
The WHO and CDC botched this. Because of their messaging a lot of people (the majority of people!) didn't take this virus seriously, and that is going to result in real human lives lost.
