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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

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 6y 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 6y 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 6y 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.

A4ET8a8uTh0 6y 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 6y 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 6y 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.