Quote:
Originally Posted by CRM114
The numbers prove exactly what I think they prove...places like NYC sat for almost 2 months doing almost nothing to prepare, educate the populace, or advocate and adopt anti-spreading behavior until only recently when it was obviously upon them.
Wider testing/skyrocketing numbers merely reveals how ill-prepared and how deep heads were buried in the sand despite the evidence, warnings, and most of all, common sense from the municipal and health care leaders all the way down the the person on the street.
When a hurricane approaches a city but despite ample warnings and evidence everyone grasps onto any straw that allows them to remain in a state of denial or excuses themselves for failing to prepare in the belief it will somehow pass them by, then when it hits the death and destruction are far worse than a city and populace that are proactive. That's a fact, not an unproven theory.
I saw it first hand in NYC and SF on trips in early March prior to the initiation of the responses. The difference between there and here in Hong Kong was night and day. There were certainly fewer people on the streets in tourists spots frequented by those from Europe and Asia, but mostly locals were acting out the same unhygienic and close-contact behaviors.
The current response is, by and large, completely reactionary and even now there are too many who still don't "get it" as far as behavior and an unwillingness to put up with inconveniences unless forced to do so.
Even now there's debate as to whether it does any good to wear a mask in public. Even now some are still having extended family dinners, birthday parties, etc etc. with those one normally lets their guard down around and thus are most likely to transmit it to and fro.
It was common knowledge that carriers could be asymptomatic and that it was highly transmissible by having the benefit of seeing and studying what was happening elsewhere. In the face of that knowledge what NOT to do in a congested city is sit around hoping it will pass one by, doubly so when almost nobody is being tested yet.
With an asymptomatic virus there should be no link between proactive behavior modification and testing. One doesn't need testing to do the things that will reduce the chance of communicating an unseen disease. Beating the drum now for resources after it's suddenly becoming overwhelming and obvious because broader testing is revealing how ill-prepared the populace was serves as a good example of what happens when wishful thinking, denial, a mindset of "someone will figure out something save the day...just like a Hollywood movie", and a general disbelief in science are given credence.
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It’s a very good comment and correct, except that in the movies there is always the hero who is competent and proactive
in real life government are always slow to react, in any crisis UNLESS the crisis has happened before there is a slow response. Governments always fight the last war not the war they are in.
The reason South Korea got it right is they their last war was a pandemic so they learned and responded correctly the next time
I was in government for a time and understand this
By the way this is true in organizations as well KODAK was disrupted by digital cameras. It’s kind of the same problem something new comes along and you are not ready for it EVEN though you should have been
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