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I read a very good article yesterday (it's pay walled) about the emerging tension between two pandemic schools of thought. On one side are those that argue that in the face of a new "surge" in case numbers the West needs to be more like China, lock things down and drop the number of new cases cases to near zero before reopening then managing outbreaks selectively. On the other side are those that argue the social and economic costs of doing that at this point are too high. Note that China did not have to deal with social costs. So, that argument is not exactly comparing apples to apples.
I don't think there is any question that, at least in the EU and the US, that rising case numbers today are a result of failing to stamp out the virus early on and in both cases, the resurgence is a result of relaxed mitigation measures and COVID fatigue that results in push-back against governments imposing more social and economic restrictions. Does it follow then that defeating the virus requires imposition of lock-downs similar to China's? One can argue that will achieve the desired result and experts are correctly arguing that it can.
IMO, we're past the point where it makes sense to impose a China style, lock down approach to the virus in the US. The reason for that is one of practicality. Moreover, there are other, more practical responses available given the current circumstances in the US. Those involve a substantial increase in testing and developing the infrastructure to trace and isolate. My view is that this has to be done at the federal level and contrary to my belief in general that states are primary, this is a unique situation requiring a national response. It is not too late. That it can be done, without a renewed China style lock-down, is also one of the reasons I'm voting for Biden who has clearly outlined this exact strategy.
BTW, Biden held serve last night.
I don't think there is any question that, at least in the EU and the US, that rising case numbers today are a result of failing to stamp out the virus early on and in both cases, the resurgence is a result of relaxed mitigation measures and COVID fatigue that results in push-back against governments imposing more social and economic restrictions. Does it follow then that defeating the virus requires imposition of lock-downs similar to China's? One can argue that will achieve the desired result and experts are correctly arguing that it can.
IMO, we're past the point where it makes sense to impose a China style, lock down approach to the virus in the US. The reason for that is one of practicality. Moreover, there are other, more practical responses available given the current circumstances in the US. Those involve a substantial increase in testing and developing the infrastructure to trace and isolate. My view is that this has to be done at the federal level and contrary to my belief in general that states are primary, this is a unique situation requiring a national response. It is not too late. That it can be done, without a renewed China style lock-down, is also one of the reasons I'm voting for Biden who has clearly outlined this exact strategy.
BTW, Biden held serve last night.
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