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Today, Denmark, Austria and Czechia are all beginning to ease their lockdowns and allow parts of their economies to re-open. Their approach requires a spectrum

Today, Denmark, Austria and Czechia are all beginning to ease their lockdowns and allow parts of their economies to re-open. Their approach requires a spectrum of modern technologies and capabilities that were simply not available 100 years ago. The Spanish Flu may not be the most useful analogy for us to keep turning to. The last hundred years were a doozy.

simonh 7y ago
This is true, as I said Im an optimist longer term. And yes, we shouldn’t need to stay under the harshest restrictions permanently. We need to flatten that curve and spread it out, but can’t expect to eliminate it completely. China shows that with a tight lockdown, you can gradually ease restrictions and get back to work. The behaviours people learn during the lockdown hopefully stick and enable us to resume critical economic activity, applying fresh lockdowns tactically as local outbreaks return.
drsim 7y ago
What modern technologies and capabilities here vs. other places? Living in Denmark I see the 'success' as being fairly early with simple social distancing and closing borders.
- Mediterraneo10 7y ago
  Once the lockdown is lifted in various countries, regular testing of the population and electronic-assisted contract testing is planned so that the numbers of infected don't begin swelling again. Those kinds of proactive measures did not exist a century ago.
- standardUser 7y ago
  Not versus other places, but versus 100 years ago. A lot of the capabilities are logistics and communication. Here is an article I found earlier today talking about some of the specifics of reopening schools in Denmark: https://www.thelocal.dk/20200413/schools-and-day-care-centres-gear-up-for-staggered-and-restricted-reopening https://www.thelocal.dk/20200413/schools-and-day-care-centre... The kind of planning and communication necessary to pull that off was not possible 100 years ago, not to mention the scientifically-informed guidelines for preventing transmission.
- simonh 7y ago
  Absolutely. The earlier measures are put in place and the better they are observed, the less severe they need to be. However for a small country like Denmark luck definitely plays a part. Looking at the USA there’s no obvious reason why New York has been so severely affected compared to say Los Angeles or Chicago, it just depends how early the virus started getting traction. It seems a small number of very socially mobile people can give the virus a massive kick-start. There doesn’t seem to be any particular reason why what happened in Lombardy couldn’t have happened in Denmark.
  - drsim 7y ago
    It is curious. I feel that Danes have a strong sense of social, collective responsibility. High education levels, generous social security net. In a pandemic my observation is that these things can play a strong role in stopping the spread (or an authoritarian stance).

simonh 7y ago

This is true, as I said Im an optimist longer term. And yes, we shouldn’t need to stay under the harshest restrictions permanently. We need to flatten that curve and spread it out, but can’t expect to eliminate it completely. China shows that with a tight lockdown, you can gradually ease restrictions and get back to work. The behaviours people learn during the lockdown hopefully stick and enable us to resume critical economic activity, applying fresh lockdowns tactically as local outbreaks return.

drsim 7y ago

What modern technologies and capabilities here vs. other places? Living in Denmark I see the 'success' as being fairly early with simple social distancing and closing borders.

Mediterraneo10 7y ago
Once the lockdown is lifted in various countries, regular testing of the population and electronic-assisted contract testing is planned so that the numbers of infected don't begin swelling again. Those kinds of proactive measures did not exist a century ago.
standardUser 7y ago
Not versus other places, but versus 100 years ago. A lot of the capabilities are logistics and communication. Here is an article I found earlier today talking about some of the specifics of reopening schools in Denmark: https://www.thelocal.dk/20200413/schools-and-day-care-centres-gear-up-for-staggered-and-restricted-reopening https://www.thelocal.dk/20200413/schools-and-day-care-centre... The kind of planning and communication necessary to pull that off was not possible 100 years ago, not to mention the scientifically-informed guidelines for preventing transmission.
simonh 7y ago
Absolutely. The earlier measures are put in place and the better they are observed, the less severe they need to be. However for a small country like Denmark luck definitely plays a part. Looking at the USA there’s no obvious reason why New York has been so severely affected compared to say Los Angeles or Chicago, it just depends how early the virus started getting traction. It seems a small number of very socially mobile people can give the virus a massive kick-start. There doesn’t seem to be any particular reason why what happened in Lombardy couldn’t have happened in Denmark.
- drsim 7y ago
  It is curious. I feel that Danes have a strong sense of social, collective responsibility. High education levels, generous social security net. In a pandemic my observation is that these things can play a strong role in stopping the spread (or an authoritarian stance).