I think there’s a lot of hindsight there. I think when we didn’t know much about it but watched Italian hospitals overflowing with patients and people literally dying in the hallways without treatment, and when it seemed to be spreading out of control here it made sense to take strong measures until we could assess what it was and what we needed to do about it.
But there’s no excuse for the fact that nobody had any plan for what to do NEXT. They shut everything down and spent the next month and a half patting themselves on the back for it instead of learning about it, testing for it, and figuring out how to quickly and safely get everyone working again while keeping the hospitals under capacity.
And that’s the crazy thing about all this: we were sold a short term shut down based on keeping the hospitals from being overwhelmed. But the hospitals in almost every part of the US never got overwhelmed, or even close. Mostly, they’re empty. But still we’re stuck in a long term shutdown with no justification. It’s insane! Doesn’t make any sense at all.
You said it best in your comment #52. Places of work and other gatherings need to be hardened against epidemics. Business managers and owners don’t want to make necessary improvements. Customers also need to make improvements (for example, personal hygiene).
We also need a larger manufacturing base instead of operating the world’s tourist trap in the U.S.A. Globalization will be decreased to some extent. In sum, we should meet the challenges and adapt to inevitable changes.