3 ms·

I don't understand. Is the plan to keep covid out of the country forever? That doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense at this point. Will there be a lockdown

I don't understand. Is the plan to keep covid out of the country forever? That doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense at this point. Will there be a lockdown every time there's new infections?

jonsno56 6y ago
Fun fact! If there are only a handful of cases the lockdowns don’t have to last that long. And vaccines can keep COVID out of a country forever
- TheBlight 6y ago
  We'll see I guess but I'm extremely skeptical.
  - hn_throwaway_99 6y ago
    I mean, it appears to be working in New Zealand. Island countries with relatively small populations seem like the places where this approach is feasible.
    - dingaling 6y ago
      NZ is keeping coronavirus out by shutting-down the tourist industry that constitutes 10% of employment and 6% of GDP So it's a race between economic damage and global vaccination.
tomhoward 6y ago
It's a good question. The political leaders at both state and federal levels are banking on an effective/safe vaccine being widely available in the next 12 months. If that doesn't eventuate, I don't know what the Plan B is.
zamadatix 6y ago
I would assume until a vaccine that at least helps slow the spread or until the virus has mutated enough it's less of an impact. Or at least an bet at one of those 2 occurring.
smaddox 6y ago
I don't understand this attitude. It's seems to essentially be "it requires thought, planning, and effort, and therefore is impossible." Was this kind of mindset as common when the world irradicated Small Pox and Polio, as it is now?
- grecy 6y ago
  > I don't understand this attitude. It's seems to essentially be "it requires thought, planning, and effort, and therefore is impossible." This kind of thinking has become extremely common across many different topics, ideas and issues. Improving healthcare, climate change, making better cars/public transport, etc. etc. It's like people have wholesale given up on trying to actually improve anything. My personal suspicion is it comes from most people struggling under crippling debt, and desperation and no way out in their own life flows over into their broader thinking.
- TheBlight 6y ago
  Those viruses weren't eradicated for decades though and we didn't shutdown our way of life for the interim. And they were much more deadly.
thisrod 6y ago
The goal is to keep the virus rare enough for normal public health measures to contain, and continue indefinitely with some 2m apart and working from home type restrictions. One effect of the virus has been a rise in geographic realism among Australians. Over the last 50 years or so, we have been very gradually coming to think of Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Japan as medium size, more-or-less democratic countries like Australia. This year, we've been forced to give up on America and Europe, and we're thinking more seriously about how to live in our part of the world, where many countries have the virus under control. Though not yet seriously enough to learn the languages they speak, or anything like that.

I don't understand. Is the plan to keep covid out of the country forever? That doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense at this point. Will there be a lockdown every time there's new infections?

jonsno56 6y ago

Fun fact! If there are only a handful of cases the lockdowns don’t have to last that long. And vaccines can keep COVID out of a country forever

TheBlight 6y ago
We'll see I guess but I'm extremely skeptical.
- hn_throwaway_99 6y ago
  I mean, it appears to be working in New Zealand. Island countries with relatively small populations seem like the places where this approach is feasible.
  - dingaling 6y ago
    NZ is keeping coronavirus out by shutting-down the tourist industry that constitutes 10% of employment and 6% of GDP So it's a race between economic damage and global vaccination.

tomhoward 6y ago

It's a good question. The political leaders at both state and federal levels are banking on an effective/safe vaccine being widely available in the next 12 months. If that doesn't eventuate, I don't know what the Plan B is.

zamadatix 6y ago

I would assume until a vaccine that at least helps slow the spread or until the virus has mutated enough it's less of an impact. Or at least an bet at one of those 2 occurring.

smaddox 6y ago

I don't understand this attitude. It's seems to essentially be "it requires thought, planning, and effort, and therefore is impossible." Was this kind of mindset as common when the world irradicated Small Pox and Polio, as it is now?

grecy 6y ago
> I don't understand this attitude. It's seems to essentially be "it requires thought, planning, and effort, and therefore is impossible." This kind of thinking has become extremely common across many different topics, ideas and issues. Improving healthcare, climate change, making better cars/public transport, etc. etc. It's like people have wholesale given up on trying to actually improve anything. My personal suspicion is it comes from most people struggling under crippling debt, and desperation and no way out in their own life flows over into their broader thinking.
TheBlight 6y ago
Those viruses weren't eradicated for decades though and we didn't shutdown our way of life for the interim. And they were much more deadly.

thisrod 6y ago

The goal is to keep the virus rare enough for normal public health measures to contain, and continue indefinitely with some 2m apart and working from home type restrictions. One effect of the virus has been a rise in geographic realism among Australians. Over the last 50 years or so, we have been very gradually coming to think of Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Japan as medium size, more-or-less democratic countries like Australia. This year, we've been forced to give up on America and Europe, and we're thinking more seriously about how to live in our part of the world, where many countries have the virus under control. Though not yet seriously enough to learn the languages they speak, or anything like that.