If one wants to Monday Morning Quarterback the worldwide Covid-19 response, the "first mistake" was by the Chinese not informing the world of the new disease and instead suppressing the information received from their own doctors and scientists to avoid worldwide embarrassment as the likely source. That was before 2020 began.
The "second mistake" was the delay in the World Health Organization declaring Covid-19 a pandemic until a month after the disease had been named. Many conspiracy theories, but maybe the simplest explanation is the most reasonable (from Google, for those who want citations):
"When is the last time the WHO declared a pandemic?
The last time the WHO declared a pandemic was during the 2009 H1N1 swine flu, and it triggered aggressive actions, such as millions in spending to buy vaccines. But H1N1 turned out not to be as deadly and disruptive as feared, and a lot of governments were frustrated about buying vaccines that they ended up not using and harshly criticized the WHO for its declaration. Burned by that response, the WHO got rid of the six-stage procedure that led up to it declaring an influenza pandemic."
And for those who think the US was late to the game, there is this (from Google):
"Common question
When was the coronavirus disease declared a pandemic?
On March 11, 2020 the Novel Coronavirus Disease, COVID-19, was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. On March 13, 2020 a national emergency was declared in the United States concerning the COVID-19 Outbreak."
By March, 2020, it was way too late to "contain" Covid-19 (which some public policy makers in the US still seem to believe with their "quarantines" -- poor medical policy, but good politics).
Yes, "mistakes were made" and they should have been learning opportunities. "Flattening the curve," was supposed to take 14 days back in March, 3 Months later the shutdown has simply taken us back to near Square One with 94% of the US population vulnerable to Covid-19 and the exact same question, "Shutdown (again, which failed to "contain" the virus) until there is a vaccine, or re-open with informed, sensible precautions and follow the path that was inevitable from the beginning, and that Sweden selected from the beginning?
"Killing the virus" ain't going to happen in the next few years, if ever. Each county, each state, each nation will need to learn how to live with the virus while minimizing the undeniable damage and casualties. Some will do better than others. Politicians will play politics.
For those who like links and citations, here is one for some mindfulness going forward (and why I am continuing on with my vacations this summer with zero fear) and living life in general. (And why I have completely tuned-out the hyper video media, which is the model Absurd).
We often push thoughts of death far out of our awareness, but at the present time they unavoidably re-emerge. Can we learn something helpful from this?
www.psychiatrictimes.com
"One message is for us to never forget the fragility and brevity of life. Another message, more subtle but equally important, is that we have a duty to do our best to calm and sublimate our death fears. Recognizing this duty now seems to be an important task-one that we cannot allow ourselves to continue repressing.
Camus would likely have endorsed this approach, as his solution to the Absurd was to fully accept it – while continuing to live on – thereby achieving a transcendent form of freedom and personal meaning."
www.cdc.gov
www.bloomberg.com
