Reimagining Americas Infectious Disease Defense

[Boatswain2PA]

Good read.  I didn't realize we have genetic evidence of it being here in December, with community spread in NYC in January.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/10/reimagining-americas-infectious-disease-defense/#slide-1

Other paragraphs I found interesting.

"In January, after the virus had spread outside of China, the WHO and CDC were still refusing to accept that they had a full pandemic on their hands. The Trump administration was also divided. As early as January 29, Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, wrote an extensive memo detailing the risk of COVID to the U.S., saying the lives of millions were at stake. On that very same day, HHS secretary Alex Azar claimed the disease was well under control. The inadequate response by the federal government to the exponential growth of the virus was catastrophic. "

"Why was there no backup plan? How come SARS-CoV-2 circulation in many parts of the United States remained undetected by the CDC’s early-warning systems for at least several weeks in early January and February? Why did the CDC not take the lead in developing, or at least systematically collating, projection models for the pandemic’s spread, which would have decreased confusion among decision-makers and the public?

These failures were then compounded by resistance from localities. As the virus proliferated through New York and the West Coast in early January, little was done to slow the spread. It is likely that the virus had spread to over 35 states by the end of February. At this point, most states had not issued even the earliest of warnings. Transportation hubs such as airports, railway stations, and subways should have been closed weeks earlier but remained open through the middle of March. This helped seed the virus, first reaching community spread in New York and surrounding regions and then spreading outward throughout the rest of the country. Local mayors and governors did not want to take courageous stands that could have saved lives. In short, state and local leaders compounded the already dismal federal response by worrying about their own political pet causes."

 

"In many ways, this was the medical and scientific community’s version of 9/11. "

[rev ronin]

The pre-symptomatic spread and presence of widespread non-symptomatic carriers and minimally symptomatic spreaders really seems to have stymied everything.  There is SO MUCH we simply do not know--like, for example, why is Africa OK, relatively speaking, when it seems to come out last in so many other health metrics?

[rev ronin]

10 minutes ago, mcclane said:

Please stop posting random journalism articles you find while surfing the web. This is not your personal social media network.

Tell you what,  how about you let us decide when people are starting too many threads, OK?  You can feel free to ignore anything you don't want to read.

[CAAdmission]

On 10/26/2020 at 12:02 PM, Boatswain2PA said:

Good read.  I didn't realize we have genetic evidence of it being here in December, with community spread in NYC in January.

I heard some anecdotal reports of people with severe URI symptoms accompanied by loss of taste and smell not long after Thanksgiving, so this was likely around here in the community long before anyone recognized it. 

It's hard to armchair quarterback major things that might have been done differently. The country would not have tolerated a massive, nationwide "stay at home" order around the holidays. We could have upregulated PPE production, but we still would have run out. I hate to say it, but I think this is going to be around for a long time, and it is going to be something that pretty much everyone will catch sooner or later. The initial policy of "flatten the curve" so that resources do not get overwhelmed seems to have transitioned to "make sure no one ever catches Covid" and that is not workable. 

[Boatswain2PA]

1 hour ago, CJAdmission said:

The initial policy of "flatten the curve" so that resources do not get overwhelmed seems to have transitioned to "make sure no one ever catches Covid" and that is not workable. 

Which is why I have said it's going to magically get better between Nov 3rd and Jan 20th.

The disease itself wont.  But the national hysteria will drop because the media will stop/change their reporting on it.

[CAAdmission]

19 hours ago, mcclane said:

Please stop posting random journalism articles you find while surfing the web. This is not your personal social media network.

Dude/Dudette:

Let it go. Why the anger? A big problem is that we have somehow arrived at a point where it seems it is impossible to disagree with someone without hating them. I don't think you are evil. You have different life experiences that inform your worldview. I'm sure you have very logical reasons for the beliefs you hold. So do other people.

We finally have some latitude to discuss things of national interest. Playful jabs are fine. Why make it angry? The world doesn't need another Huddle full of insipid comments.