I am not trying to be negative. I mean, what’s brewing is not a subject to throw jokes around. It’s a genuine question, considering current geopolitical issues, when is the right time to prepare for a crisis if not now?
Just my take, obv.
You must've been living under a rock then.
Here's a few articles to jog your memory.
- https://www.npr.org/2020/11/06/929078678/cdc-report-official...
- https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.01269
- https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/health/coronavirus-masks-...
> speed of development and delivery of the mRNA vaccines was nothing short of unprecedented
That was the only thing that was better than expected.
We were flying completely blind at the start of the pandemic (when there was a chance of containment) because the CDC had a completely flawed test and banned every other alternative.
Australia had 15,000 total deaths compared to the US's 1 million.
> Even China which has dealt with new viral outbreaks before (I'm ignoring any insinuation of their foreknowledge of covid), is STILL struggling.
Struggling is a relative term. China has reported 5k deaths from COVID. Even if you don't believe numbers from the CCP, even 10x that (50k deaths) is far, far better than the US.
Right now, China is "struggling" because they're still clinging to zero-covid policies. They'll lock an entire neighborhood down over a few cases.
As you probably know, these things grow exponentially, so containing the spread at the very start is really, really crucial.
We were completely blind during the start of the pandemic due almost entirely to failures by the CDC.
In my opinion a good deal of this was due to the fact that this entire event turned political from the very start. I am not being dramatic when I say that politicians, due to party and ideological loyalty, quite literally, killed people. It's hard to estimate how many. The number certainly has to be between tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.
> We were completely blind during the start of the pandemic due almost entirely to failures by the CDC.
No, we were not. The instant Trump closed the door to travel from China I knew we were in for an event that was several standard deviations away from the norm. Ideology aside, a POTUS does not make a move like that in isolation. The data had to be absolutely overwhelming.
As an informed observer I was paying attention. The instant I thought "this is several standard deviations from the norm" I took action. I ordered a supply of food and other necessary items (and yes, masks) to last several months. I covered my immediate and extended family (because nobody listens and everyone who gets their information from mainstream media is living in a fantasy made-up of lies).
If I remember correctly, that was mid January 2020. All of my supplies arrived and were put away before the panic started. We barely had to go to the market for a year.
Regarding politicians killing people. A lot of those videos have been deleted from YouTube and other places. They can be hard to find. Here's a few that are still up. All after Trump's travel ban (again a "tilt" event in terms of SD from the mean).
"There is no reason not to take the subway,..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbPPGrZH3VY
"About 60% of new cases coming out of the NY metropolitan area"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdKLx5MhTpk
"Everything is fine" "Precautions have been taken" "Fear is racially motivated" "Coronavirus is under control in the US"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmllqkU6j2k
This is a big one:
Just like the normal flu
We should relax
We don't think it's going to be as bad as it is in other places
We have been ahead of this from day one
Go about your lives
Go about your business
There has to be prolonged exposure
Just wash your hands
No need to do anything special
We want New Yorkers to go about their daily lives
Ride the subway, ride the bus, go see your neighbors
We have the equipment
It's not like we are dealing with something we haven't dealt with before
We have the ability to address this
We have the capacity to keep this contained
Like the normal flu
The local risk is low
Our preparedness is high
Go about your lives
No indication to be using masks
We have measures
We have screening
No indication that going through the subway is a risk factor
No indications to be using masks
False sense of security
The risk is low
These are just some of the links I kept as I chronicled this historical event. A lot of the links I recorded have been deleted.
If you do watch these, pay attention to the dates. Keep in mind that Trump and his team sounded the alarm in early January and the Chinese travel ban went into effect at the end of January.
These people, in very real terms, caused hundreds of thousands of people to become infected. When panic ensued, masses of people left the NY area, carrying the virus everywhere in the country. Yes, these politicians likely killed hundreds of thousands of people. I think that much is without dispute. Nobody talks about it, of course. Because ideology and party are more important than lives. As a classical liberal/libertarian I find this kind of thing to be in a range between revolting and criminal.
The reality is that precautions were not followed in the US for the sake of "liberty" and that had consequences
I really don't see how we could be less "blind". What were we supposed to see? You haven't outlined anything that these other countries "saw" that we didn't.