Hacker News Reader

throwaway84774on Coronavirus doctor's diary: Why are people remaining ill for so long?

This doesn't really mesh with the situation on the ground.

I think it does: https://aatishb.com/covidtrends/?scale=linear&trendline=fals...

throwaway84774on Coronavirus doctor's diary: Why are people remaining ill for so long?

chair of the National Infection Prevention and Control Committee through the Ministry of Health, Singapore (2013 -),)

To the rest of the world, he is the face of Singapore's Covid response. Based on what I've read he was influential (behind the scenes perhaps?) in Singapore's response...and the reason why your government didn't require masks till after your flare up.

His advice seems to have been taken very seriously in other countries (not requiring masks, not closing schools).

throwaway84774on Coronavirus doctor's diary: Why are people remaining ill for so long?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Fisher

As in some ways the public face of the response in Singapore, Fisher has featured in a comic series “The COVID Chronicles"

throwaway84774on Coronavirus doctor's diary: Why are people remaining ill for so long?

Something that has been striking about COVID-19 is that it seems to have been consistently underestimated by experts, especially in western nations. With the exception of Singapore (which put an Australian in charge of its response), Asian countries that were hit hard by SARS or MERS responded swiftly and decisively: Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea and China crushed the virus. Other countries seemed to dither, and react slowly. Australia, which was the exception, seems poised to squander its gains.

Is it because of limited mortality in the young (which doesn't seem to translate to limited morbidity)? Is it the fact that "coronavirus" meant "common cold" to medical experts? Arrogance? Complacency?

To a non-expert, a rapidly spreading novel virus with unknown long-term effects would be something to be eradicated, but the emphasis from western governments in particular seems to be reactive and ambivalent and hinging on the hope of a vaccine.