Thank you for the detailed and well thought out response to my snarky comment. Although I disagree with most of what you said, your perspective is thought provoking as is the quote from you above.
People can be counted on to react in a way that is more helpful to their best interests than heavy handed authorities. The way that people live and behave around here is largely responsible for the difference in the level of fatalities here than in other places.
However it is not that people here are smarter or better. People in the part of King and Snohomish Counties that this hit in first mostly live in single family homes, drive in their own vehicles to get around, and tend to keep to themselves.
Long before this coronavirus nonsense, I was waiting to get into a freezer at the grocery store while a young couple discussed the various choices. They were considering some of Mrs. Fireman 15’s favorite “Healthy Choice” frozen entrees so I said to them that they were tasty and maybe even good for them. Both of them stepped back in horror as they were confounded that someone much older would attempt to speak to them. They immediately scurried off. They probably discuss the color and consistency of their poos and share other intimate details about themselves with complete strangers on Friend Face, but they are afraid to have any contact with others in real life.
Some people probably have no idea what you are talking about with the diversion of air traffic to Vancouver International in Canada, a two hour drive North of here. Many of the half million Chinese people who live here, their friends and families were taking direct flights between SeaTac and Wuhan after the crisis began there and after the Chinese government had restricted their travel to other parts of China. When President Trump's “travel ban” began on January 31 restricting these flights, they were just diverted to Vancouver International instead. There was no actual disruption to travelers coming directly from the hot-spot in China to here. I am not quite sure why you feel this slight inconvenience to travelers from China was helpful in any way. Over 10,000 people who had just taken flights from the affected area of China crossed the border into Washington in the first two weeks of February alone.
I was talking to a friend of mine recently who is a supervisor at the SeaTac TSA. They had several people who tested positive during this time period but only one who developed any symptoms. They were all negative and back to work within a couple of weeks.
To give the Chinese some credit... after what they saw in Wuhan personally, many were wearing masks in late December and early January when they went to the Costco in Kirkland, the malls in Bellevue and other public places. At that time people were trying to figure out what was up with that. At least some of the people who assumed that they had been exposed were taking some precautions not to spread it around.
The problem is that Chinese and many other recent immigrants tend to share small living spaces with a large number of other people along with vehicles, etc... The other issue is that in this area many people from China work in health care and many have more than one job often taking care of the elderly both in nursing care facilities and in people's homes. So this thing spread through the area here before the rest of the country had much awareness of it.
The Vancouver diversion is noteworthy because when SARS hit in 2003, Vancouver did a much better job than Toronto in controlling the spread. Thus, I'd expect Vancouver to be more, how shall we say, restrictive (notwithstanding that it's in Canada). True, Canada's overall size-adjusted fatality total is higher than that of Washington State, but BC's is much lower than that of King County, WA. That could be due to a number of other factors not covered here. But, as I said elsewhere, I don't look beyond our borders to find wisdom on how the US should handle our own situation.
Your insight into the density (i.e., single family homes and driving vs public transportation) may be a clue into why WA was hit early but has fared better. There are likely a zillion other factors, but this may be, in part, why WA, CA, and OR have lower adjusted fatalities than the more dense Eastern states. In fact, it is purely politics that WA, OR, and CA are locked in this economic death compact to stay closed longer than necessary.
I'm not sure of what is the 'much' that I said that is disagreeable - maybe you think we've struck out while SE is at 3-0 - but that's why there is vanilla and chocolate ice cream. To be clear, though, I'm in favor of risk-based shutting down (i.e., this virus kills those with pre-existing conditions and older age disproportionately - we should be helping them vs killing the paycheck of young baristas) AND opening things up.
Thanks for listening and your thoughtful commentary.