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> SARS, MERS and so on, which ultimately turned out to be nothingburgers As a reminder, SARS and MERS were contained thanks to massive international effort to
by Jwarder 7y ago
> SARS, MERS and so on, which ultimately turned out to be nothingburgers
As a reminder, SARS and MERS were contained thanks to massive international effort to identify the spreaders, quarantines (including whole hospitals), and restrictions on air travel.
- scottlocklin 7y agoThere's no question that quarantines prevent the spread of disease: there is plenty of question as to whether the disease justifies it; including in the cases of SARS and MERS. For example: most new flus come out of China due to their agricultural practices; building a wall around China until they change the practices and isolating people in the rest of the world population who get it would actually remove the flu from the human experience. I believe flu killed 60,000 people in America last year. Are we ready to do that? Should only take a couple of years!
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- Jwarder 7y agoIf given the choice between modern disease control and a wall I would choose modern disease control. Your example of the flu is interesting. If humanity had modern resources to fight the ur-flu would it be worth the effort? How many lives would be saved over the generations if the flu hadn't become a common threat?
- udkyo 7y agoSARS and MERS killed ~1 in 10 and ~1 in 3 of the people who contracted them. If a contagious disease with a 34% mortality rate don't justify containment. What does?