'Crimson Contagion': Trump administration ran pandemic simulation months before coronavirus hit

The Trump administration simulated the ability of the United States to handle a flulike pandemic months before the coronavirus turned the scenario into a reality.

The Health and Human Services Department led the exercise, known as the "Crimson Contagion," last year in conjunction with dozens of states and federal agencies, according to the New York Times. HHS also invited charitable groups, insurance companies, and major hospitals to take part in the effort.

Former Air Force physician Robert Kadlec, who has studied biodefense issues for decades, led the exercise, which imagined a contagious disease that originated in China and spread globally after nearly three dozen tourists were infected and returned home. The hypothetical outbreak spread quickly through the U.S. after an infected person attended a concert packed with thousands of others.

The exercise, which took place from January to August of last year, highlighted some of the problems that the federal government is struggling to handle now, such as insufficient hospital space and medical supplies, as well as confusion between federal agencies and between states and the federal government.

Trump has defended the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying on Thursday that his administration has handled the crisis well considering “nobody knew there would be a pandemic or epidemic of this proportion. Nobody has ever seen anything like this before.”

Iran has already turned away from the geometric grown line and has almost flattened.

Any reports on how?

As for SK:

http://theconversation.com/coronavirus-south-koreas-success-in-controlling-disease-is-due-to-its-acceptance-of-surveillance-134068

Note the astonishing capacity of gov't surveillance of citizens and tracking capability of same. Just one part of it: I came up with 70 MILLION gov't controlled cameras to do the same job in NYC.

Because COVID-19 is a mild disease for most people, only a small fraction of patients tend to contact health authorities for testing based on their symptoms or known contact with infected people. Many patients with mild symptoms, especially younger ones, don’t realise they are ill and infecting others.

If these patients can’t be found, testing capacity doesn’t mean much. This is where smart city infrastructure comes in. The aim is to work out where known patients have been and test anyone who might have come into contact with them. There are three main ways people are tracked.

First, credit and debit cards. South Korea has the highest proportion of cashless transactions in the world. By tracking transactions, it’s possible to draw a card user’s movements on the map.

Second, mobile phones can be used for the same purpose. In 2019, South Korea had one of the world’s highest phone ownership rates (there are more phones than people). Phone locations are automatically recorded with complete accuracy because devices are connected to between one and three transceivers at any time. And there are approximately 860,000 4G and 5G transceivers densely covering the whole country. Crucially, phone companies require all customers to provide their real names and national registry numbers. This means it’s possible to track nearly everyone by following the location of their phones.

Mobile phones can be used to track patients’ movements. Alex Plavevski/EPA

Finally, CCTV cameras also enable authorities to identify people who have been in contact with COVID-19 patients. In 2014, South Korean cities had over 8 million CCTV cameras, or one camera per 6.3 people. In 2010, everyone was captured an average of 83.1 times per day and every nine seconds while travelling. These figures are likely to be much higher today. Considering the physical size of the country, it is safe to say South Korea has one of the highest densities of surveillance technology in the world.

http://theconversation.com/coronavirus-south-koreas-success-in-controlling-disease-is-due-to-its-acceptance-of-surveillance-134068

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