South Korea is proof that this did not have to happen.
South Korea had its first case the same day as the United States. South Korea posted 43 new cases yesterday. What is the difference? South Korea took it seriously, prepared, and initiated an intense public testing program immediately. South Korea is a democracy, and has 50 MILLION people. South Korea and New Zealand forever condemn and expose the real story of Donald John Trump’s betrayal of the American people.
The madman now has the blood of literally thousands of Americans on his hands, and we shall never forget it. He and his most ardent supporters, who see him as the victim, have become an active threat to constitutional democracy, and, now, humanity.
Please share widely!
In fairness, you omit the reality that population of the US is 330 MILLION people — almost seven times that of South Korea. South Korea occupies about 38.7 thousand square miles. The United States occupies 3.8 MILLION square miles — one hundred times more.
The statistics you cite do little more than confirm the basic geographic data I just repeated.
Even with a perfect response, it would still take time for a pandemic or epidemic to spread across the land area of the US. That alone means that episode is over in South Korea before parts of the episode have even arrived in the US.
I share your enthusiasm for removing Donald Trump and the Trumpists from power. I attempt to be rather more disciplined in statistical arguments I make in support of that enthusiasm.
If you “attempt to be rather more disciplined in statistical arguments you make in support of your enthusiasm”, perhaps you could re-read your own comment. At least in this case, you flatter yourself.
50,000,000 people is a substantial population. The order of magnitude departure between the two nation’s responses, coupled with the order of magnitude departure in the level of current new infections in the two countries make your two niggardly points look just plain silly.
The head of infectious disease health policy at the Harvard Chan school agrees with me.
“Even with a perfect response, it would still take time for a pandemic or epidemic to spread across the land area of the US. ‘THAT ALONE’ means that episode is over in South Korea before parts of the episode have even arrived in the US.”. Really? Tell that to Lombardy, a smaller land mass.
This is so transparently incorrect that I will let you figure out why yourself.
Didn’t SK also institute some pretty extreme police-state like tactics?
Not really. The biggest difference was a rapid roll out in free universal mobile testing sites.