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This is crazy. There is nothing any party could do to have prevented the virus from reaching the United States, aside from a complete shutdown of the borders, i

This is crazy. There is nothing any party could do to have prevented the virus from reaching the United States, aside from a complete shutdown of the borders, including for American citizens. It is too transmissible, too undetectable, etc, to prevent it. Containment is the only feasible option, and America is actually ahead of the curve. Unlike Italy and France and Europe, American states are shutting down before hospitals have yet to be overrun.

smt88 7y ago
You're attacking an argument I didn't make. I did not say anyone could prevent the infection from reaching the US. The damage can vary wildly once it's here. Containment is not a binary outcome. Among the tools govt has: funding science, appointing competent officials at CDC and State Dept, travel bans, quarantines, financial relief, effective messaging, targeted testing, subsidizing tests and treatment, restrictions on gatherings, anti-smoking campaigns, regulations to reduce air pollution, not telling people that it's an exaggeration or a hoax, inviting the other party to discuss a compromise on life-saving measures, acting on the CDC's recommendations, sending govt workers home, enforcing anti-gouging laws... it's a long list. As has been discussed here and elsewhere, many of Trump's behaviors and much of the Republican agenda has pulled us in the opposite direction of where we needed to be to deal with this. In the CDC, many people are "acting" roles because Trump refuses to fill vacancies. The same is true of the State Dept.
adamsea 7y ago
There is so much the US could have done if it had exercised an international leadership role earlier in the crisis. And the current administration messed up big time by not manufacturing sufficient coronavirus tests and instituting some sort of testing regime.
- tathougies 7y ago
  Yes, they screwed up testing. However, no administration could have prevented it from reaching the US. Trump's closure of the Chinese border is more than almost any president would have dared done.
woofie11 7y ago
Of course we could have contained it. See Taiwan for a golden example. About one case per day since this started. China, Japan, and South Korea or other examples.
- tathougies 7y ago
  China? China is why we're in this mess. They were unable to contain it, which is why it's now a pandemic. Their actions to shut down society (which the US is now taking, well before our hospitals are overrun) came way way way later. Japan, I don't know about. South Korea is doing a good job, however it only took one rogue patient (patient 31) to go from 'well-contained' to 'nation-wide' epidemic. This is why containment measures are doomed to fail if the goal is to prevent the spread entirely. It only takes one person to screw it up.

smt88 7y ago

You're attacking an argument I didn't make. I did not say anyone could prevent the infection from reaching the US. The damage can vary wildly once it's here. Containment is not a binary outcome. Among the tools govt has: funding science, appointing competent officials at CDC and State Dept, travel bans, quarantines, financial relief, effective messaging, targeted testing, subsidizing tests and treatment, restrictions on gatherings, anti-smoking campaigns, regulations to reduce air pollution, not telling people that it's an exaggeration or a hoax, inviting the other party to discuss a compromise on life-saving measures, acting on the CDC's recommendations, sending govt workers home, enforcing anti-gouging laws... it's a long list. As has been discussed here and elsewhere, many of Trump's behaviors and much of the Republican agenda has pulled us in the opposite direction of where we needed to be to deal with this. In the CDC, many people are "acting" roles because Trump refuses to fill vacancies. The same is true of the State Dept.

adamsea 7y ago

There is so much the US could have done if it had exercised an international leadership role earlier in the crisis. And the current administration messed up big time by not manufacturing sufficient coronavirus tests and instituting some sort of testing regime.

tathougies 7y ago
Yes, they screwed up testing. However, no administration could have prevented it from reaching the US. Trump's closure of the Chinese border is more than almost any president would have dared done.

woofie11 7y ago

Of course we could have contained it. See Taiwan for a golden example. About one case per day since this started. China, Japan, and South Korea or other examples.

tathougies 7y ago
China? China is why we're in this mess. They were unable to contain it, which is why it's now a pandemic. Their actions to shut down society (which the US is now taking, well before our hospitals are overrun) came way way way later. Japan, I don't know about. South Korea is doing a good job, however it only took one rogue patient (patient 31) to go from 'well-contained' to 'nation-wide' epidemic. This is why containment measures are doomed to fail if the goal is to prevent the spread entirely. It only takes one person to screw it up.