2 ms·

This is basically my main complaint about the approach in the US. That ship has long sailed, but it should have been straight quarantine. We got soft 'shelter i

This is basically my main complaint about the approach in the US. That ship has long sailed, but it should have been straight quarantine. We got soft 'shelter in place' that was basically disregarded based on what I saw ( in IL suburbs at least; can't speak for other places ) and not applied uniformly. And I don't even want to get started on our governor deciding that golfing is somehow essential to the quality of life here. In short, I understand the anger. I even understand the guy, who did not want to wear a mask out of spite at my wife's place ( more specifically, he did not want to wear it, because eff IL state government; he put it on when he was told it was office policy.. ). But it is getting messy and we better figure it out quick, before that powder cake gets lit. The opportunity to contain it has passed and now we really need to think hard what to do next, because options are not great.

scarmig 7y ago
The best solution would have been for the US to shut down from mid-February to the end of March to get time to put together a comprehensive testing and contact tracing program, but that was never in the cards: people wouldn't have accepted it coming so soon, and wouldn't have accepted sitting in quarantine for two months when weekly national deaths weren't even breaking double digits. As for what now... unfortunately I don't think there's a good way out for the USA. Other highly developed countries have established a tenuous path toward controlling the virus (in different ways), but Americans seems intent on running headfirst into the abattoir.
- A4ET8a8uTh0 7y ago
  I will admit that in January I was sure CNN was selling a pandemic scare ( and at the time I basically dismissed it as an exotic flu ). But in February the writing was on the wall, which is why we were slowly stocking up on essentials. There are few times to accept government restrictions, but I would say pandemic qualifies. Hell, I was almost ready to accept Trump's flimsy characterization of the pandemic as war with invisible enemy since I was half hoping he would impose stringent restrictions. But he chickened out. And now we have this wishy washy, no mans land, not quite quarantine re-opening. To say that it is a cluster fuck is an understatement.
  - scarmig 7y ago
    In January I had the fortunate timing of moving to China a day before the Wuhan lockdown went into effect (talk about culture shock). Though my thinking on the pandemic has evolved since then, I came to three immediate conclusions: 1) COVID-19 is a BFD 2) The PRC, in culture and governance, is exceptionally well-equipped to handle disasters of this type 3) The USA, in culture and governance, is exceptionally badly-equipped to make this pandemic unfold as anything except a giant clusterfuck Those seem to have held up pretty well.
    - deathgrips 7y ago
      The disaster wouldn't have happened in the first place if China had not assassinated doctors trying to circulate early information about Covid-19. China in effect created the problem and then solved it very, very painfully.

scarmig 7y ago

The best solution would have been for the US to shut down from mid-February to the end of March to get time to put together a comprehensive testing and contact tracing program, but that was never in the cards: people wouldn't have accepted it coming so soon, and wouldn't have accepted sitting in quarantine for two months when weekly national deaths weren't even breaking double digits. As for what now... unfortunately I don't think there's a good way out for the USA. Other highly developed countries have established a tenuous path toward controlling the virus (in different ways), but Americans seems intent on running headfirst into the abattoir.

A4ET8a8uTh0 7y ago
I will admit that in January I was sure CNN was selling a pandemic scare ( and at the time I basically dismissed it as an exotic flu ). But in February the writing was on the wall, which is why we were slowly stocking up on essentials. There are few times to accept government restrictions, but I would say pandemic qualifies. Hell, I was almost ready to accept Trump's flimsy characterization of the pandemic as war with invisible enemy since I was half hoping he would impose stringent restrictions. But he chickened out. And now we have this wishy washy, no mans land, not quite quarantine re-opening. To say that it is a cluster fuck is an understatement.
- scarmig 7y ago
  In January I had the fortunate timing of moving to China a day before the Wuhan lockdown went into effect (talk about culture shock). Though my thinking on the pandemic has evolved since then, I came to three immediate conclusions: 1) COVID-19 is a BFD 2) The PRC, in culture and governance, is exceptionally well-equipped to handle disasters of this type 3) The USA, in culture and governance, is exceptionally badly-equipped to make this pandemic unfold as anything except a giant clusterfuck Those seem to have held up pretty well.
  - deathgrips 7y ago
    The disaster wouldn't have happened in the first place if China had not assassinated doctors trying to circulate early information about Covid-19. China in effect created the problem and then solved it very, very painfully.