COVID-19 is that bad - the virus itself is very much in the sweet spot, that is not so vicious it's easily detected and squelched, but not so harmless we can le

COVID-19 is that bad - the virus itself is very much in the sweet spot, that is not so vicious it's easily detected and squelched, but not so harmless we can let it run through the population. It's probably close to the worst case, in fact, given our current technology and public health knowledge. Viruses optimized for spread are not optimized for dealing death, and vice versa. I'd say all were sleep-walking - doing preventative medicine theatre. If you'd quizzed them (and they were quizzed) they wouldn't have said (and didn't say) "It won't happen" they would say "we're prepared." But in their heart of hearts - that is unconsciously - (see my first comment) they obviously didn't think it would happen to them, now. We hate to think unpleasant thoughts, and really hate to be the first one in our crowd to do so.