6 ms·

What should the US have done that other countries are doing? We closed travel early, we started closing businesses early, and we hold daily press conferences w

by blhack 6y ago

What should the US have done that other countries are doing? We closed travel early, we started closing businesses early, and we hold daily press conferences with multiple medical and financial experts that are directly informing the entire population of what measures they should be taking. edit: it seems like the general response to "what should we have done" is "the federal government should have shut down travel/businesses nationwide". Is that even legal for the federal government to do? I know that when Trump floated the idea of travel restrictions for NY, Cuomo called it an act of war (https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/28/politics/cuomo-ny-quarantine-cnntv/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/28/politics/cuomo-ny-quarantine-...).

vvanders 6y ago
Not suspending federal support for testing would go a long way.
_delirium 6y ago
We still haven't really closed travel: even the source of the biggest current outbreak, NYC, still has airports operating! And not only for medical flights... you can just buy yourself a plane ticket from NYC to Miami if you want to visit. The first significant US outbreak was in Washington state in February, and there were no real travel-restriction measures to/from the Seattle area back then either, which is part of how it spread across the country. It probably wouldn't be possible to do a China-style quarantine of an entire region, like the way they completely locked down travel to/from Hubei, but we didn't do anything even 25% of the way there... SeaTac kept operating for weeks as if there was no issue, with large volumes of passengers exiting the source of the then-biggest outbreak. We were also quite late on shutting down businesses, although some places later than others. Fairly high-ranking officials (the Oklahoma governor, the NYC mayor, etc.) were openly encouraging people to go out to big events as late as mid-March, weeks after there was evidence of community spread.
- ceejayoz 6y ago
  > We were also quite late on shutting down businesses Hell, there are still eight states that haven't, per the map at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-stay-at-home-order.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-stay....
cycrutchfield 6y ago
How about waiting for 4-6 weeks while the CDC shipped a buggy test before we started actually ramping up testing. We could have had a trajectory like South Korea.
three_seagrass 6y ago
The federal government should have enacted stay at home measures. By leaving it up to the states, it's been bungled and the covid outbreak is lasting longer and killing more people. This leads to stay at home needing extensions and a further drain on the economy.
- mrfusion 6y ago
  I really think martial law at the federal level would have been the end of our democracy. I don’t think it’s a good trade off. The current measures aren’t doing so bad in the realm of possible outcomes.
  - ceejayoz 6y ago
    There are a lot of steps before martial law. Hell, have the President do a public address from the Oval calling on the states to issue a coordinated stay-at-home order. Lay out the reasoning, the benefits. Would've helped in Florida, apparently. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article241660601.html https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-p... > “I’m in contact with [the White House task force] and I’ve said, ‘Are you recommending this?’ ” DeSantis said. “The task force has not recommended that to me. If they do, obviously that would be something that carries a lot of weight with me. If any of those task force folks tell me that we should do X, Y or Z, of course we’re going to consider it. But nobody has said that to me thus far.”
  - quickthrowman 6y ago
    You’re being pedantic. Some Republican governors were scared to enact stay-at-home without Trump’s blessing. It has nothing to do with what’s legally possible in the US.
- jandrewrogers 6y ago
  The Federal government does not have the authority, it is expressly prohibited. What you think “should” have happened is literally impossible without dissolution of the US government. This is not remotely controversial, the Supreme Court has visited this many times. States are sovereign and autonomous entities for this purpose, same as for most things. A surprisingly small number of Americans have any understanding of the structure of our government, a glaring failure of our education systems. It is no wonder that foreigners have so many misconceptions about the nature of US government given how few Americans understand it.
monocasa 6y ago
How about not making the states big against each other for medical supplies?
com2kid 6y ago
Competent would have been starting production of masks and ventilators in January, and closing borders at the same time, and mandating mask wearing in public in early February.
pmorici 6y ago
Testing, if they had spun up testing in January and mandated testing of every International traveler that had been to a country with an outbreak in the past two weeks they probably could ahve avoided a total shut down like we have now. The bungled testing is the original sin that got us to where we are now. The ventilator thing is a bit of a side show because by time you have a problem big enough to need a ton of ventilators it is already out of control.
DiogenesKynikos 6y ago
Two things: 1. Tested widely early on, like South Korea did. 2. Shut down public life weeks earlier, once it became clear there was community spread. The Federal press conferences feature a few informative experts, but they also feature one very prominent source of disinformation: the guy in charge. He downplayed the virus for months, and gives rambling, poorly considered, sometimes damaging statements (e.g., causing a run on a drug needed by Lupus patients, because he likes the idea that this drug is a miracle cure that will allow America to go back to work). His latest performance was a dishonest attack on the WHO, meant to redirect blame for mismanagement of the crisis onto that organization. Comparing the Federal press conferences to those in other countries is really eye-opening. If you want to see what good, factual, relatively unpolitical press conferences look like, take a look at the daily updates in Singapore or Germany.

by blhack 6y ago

vvanders 6y ago

Not suspending federal support for testing would go a long way.

_delirium 6y ago

We still haven't really closed travel: even the source of the biggest current outbreak, NYC, still has airports operating! And not only for medical flights... you can just buy yourself a plane ticket from NYC to Miami if you want to visit. The first significant US outbreak was in Washington state in February, and there were no real travel-restriction measures to/from the Seattle area back then either, which is part of how it spread across the country. It probably wouldn't be possible to do a China-style quarantine of an entire region, like the way they completely locked down travel to/from Hubei, but we didn't do anything even 25% of the way there... SeaTac kept operating for weeks as if there was no issue, with large volumes of passengers exiting the source of the then-biggest outbreak. We were also quite late on shutting down businesses, although some places later than others. Fairly high-ranking officials (the Oklahoma governor, the NYC mayor, etc.) were openly encouraging people to go out to big events as late as mid-March, weeks after there was evidence of community spread.

ceejayoz 6y ago
> We were also quite late on shutting down businesses Hell, there are still eight states that haven't, per the map at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-stay-at-home-order.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-stay....

cycrutchfield 6y ago

How about waiting for 4-6 weeks while the CDC shipped a buggy test before we started actually ramping up testing. We could have had a trajectory like South Korea.

three_seagrass 6y ago

The federal government should have enacted stay at home measures. By leaving it up to the states, it's been bungled and the covid outbreak is lasting longer and killing more people. This leads to stay at home needing extensions and a further drain on the economy.

mrfusion 6y ago
I really think martial law at the federal level would have been the end of our democracy. I don’t think it’s a good trade off. The current measures aren’t doing so bad in the realm of possible outcomes.
- ceejayoz 6y ago
  There are a lot of steps before martial law. Hell, have the President do a public address from the Oval calling on the states to issue a coordinated stay-at-home order. Lay out the reasoning, the benefits. Would've helped in Florida, apparently. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article241660601.html https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-p... > “I’m in contact with [the White House task force] and I’ve said, ‘Are you recommending this?’ ” DeSantis said. “The task force has not recommended that to me. If they do, obviously that would be something that carries a lot of weight with me. If any of those task force folks tell me that we should do X, Y or Z, of course we’re going to consider it. But nobody has said that to me thus far.”
- quickthrowman 6y ago
  You’re being pedantic. Some Republican governors were scared to enact stay-at-home without Trump’s blessing. It has nothing to do with what’s legally possible in the US.
jandrewrogers 6y ago
The Federal government does not have the authority, it is expressly prohibited. What you think “should” have happened is literally impossible without dissolution of the US government. This is not remotely controversial, the Supreme Court has visited this many times. States are sovereign and autonomous entities for this purpose, same as for most things. A surprisingly small number of Americans have any understanding of the structure of our government, a glaring failure of our education systems. It is no wonder that foreigners have so many misconceptions about the nature of US government given how few Americans understand it.

monocasa 6y ago

How about not making the states big against each other for medical supplies?

com2kid 6y ago

Competent would have been starting production of masks and ventilators in January, and closing borders at the same time, and mandating mask wearing in public in early February.

pmorici 6y ago

Testing, if they had spun up testing in January and mandated testing of every International traveler that had been to a country with an outbreak in the past two weeks they probably could ahve avoided a total shut down like we have now. The bungled testing is the original sin that got us to where we are now. The ventilator thing is a bit of a side show because by time you have a problem big enough to need a ton of ventilators it is already out of control.

DiogenesKynikos 6y ago

Two things: 1. Tested widely early on, like South Korea did. 2. Shut down public life weeks earlier, once it became clear there was community spread. The Federal press conferences feature a few informative experts, but they also feature one very prominent source of disinformation: the guy in charge. He downplayed the virus for months, and gives rambling, poorly considered, sometimes damaging statements (e.g., causing a run on a drug needed by Lupus patients, because he likes the idea that this drug is a miracle cure that will allow America to go back to work). His latest performance was a dishonest attack on the WHO, meant to redirect blame for mismanagement of the crisis onto that organization. Comparing the Federal press conferences to those in other countries is really eye-opening. If you want to see what good, factual, relatively unpolitical press conferences look like, take a look at the daily updates in Singapore or Germany.