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When case count is super low, you can do contact tracing and keep it from flaring up, all while having live return to mostly normal. Vietnam had had 35 deaths

When case count is super low, you can do contact tracing and keep it from flaring up, all while having live return to mostly normal. Vietnam had had 35 deaths in total. Singapore, an international transit hub, 27 deaths. Thailand, 59. Read about how Vietnam handled coronavirus. Heavy lock downs at the very beginning quarantine for everyone entering the country, and then localized lockdowns in areas that had breakouts combined with extreme levels of contact tracing. People in other countries are back to school, back to work, back to living normally.

timr 6y ago
You're shifting the goalposts. None of those countries have returned to "mostly normal". Maybe people aren't trapped in their houses by police, but that's "normal" only if you have a twisted view of normalcy. All of them have stopped international travel and closed their borders. Vietnam has a mandatory quarantine -- in government-run centers -- for most people who do enter the country. Singapore is similar. Thailand has a two-week quarantine, and their economy is devastated, as essentially all tourism has stopped. All of those countries have extensive restrictions in place, and have only recently begun to re-open their own businesses. For example, Vietnam just started re-opening businesses in mid-September: https://www.vietnam-briefing.com/news/vietnam-business-operations-and-the-coronavirus-updates.html/ https://www.vietnam-briefing.com/news/vietnam-business-opera... Singapore, while much better than before, still has widespread community transmission: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3103353/singapore-turns-corner-covid-19-fight-experts-warn-battle-not https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3103353/sin... It still has restrictions on group gatherings, people can't to to restaurants in groups larger than 5, and alcohol can't be sold after 10:30. I guess this counts as "mostly normal", right? So basically, all of those countries are still locked down, or have just barely re-opened, and even then, there's no suppression, just a lower level of community transmission than before. It's far too early to be declaring victory. You can control the virus for a time when you trap your society inside, deprive them of their livelihood and otherwise accumulate huge social and economic costs. Then you stop, and the virus comes back.

timr 6y ago

You're shifting the goalposts. None of those countries have returned to "mostly normal". Maybe people aren't trapped in their houses by police, but that's "normal" only if you have a twisted view of normalcy. All of them have stopped international travel and closed their borders. Vietnam has a mandatory quarantine -- in government-run centers -- for most people who do enter the country. Singapore is similar. Thailand has a two-week quarantine, and their economy is devastated, as essentially all tourism has stopped. All of those countries have extensive restrictions in place, and have only recently begun to re-open their own businesses. For example, Vietnam just started re-opening businesses in mid-September: https://www.vietnam-briefing.com/news/vietnam-business-operations-and-the-coronavirus-updates.html/ https://www.vietnam-briefing.com/news/vietnam-business-opera... Singapore, while much better than before, still has widespread community transmission: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3103353/singapore-turns-corner-covid-19-fight-experts-warn-battle-not https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3103353/sin... It still has restrictions on group gatherings, people can't to to restaurants in groups larger than 5, and alcohol can't be sold after 10:30. I guess this counts as "mostly normal", right? So basically, all of those countries are still locked down, or have just barely re-opened, and even then, there's no suppression, just a lower level of community transmission than before. It's far too early to be declaring victory. You can control the virus for a time when you trap your society inside, deprive them of their livelihood and otherwise accumulate huge social and economic costs. Then you stop, and the virus comes back.