04-24-2020, 11:32 AM
(04-24-2020, 10:13 AM)michaelsean Wrote: Are you sure the world is doing better? It seems some countries are doing better, and some worse. I don't think our death rate is anywhere near the bottom. Or the top. Whichever way you want to look at it. Is the Conte guy getting heat? They've got 1/6 th epopulation of the US and half as many deaths.
"The world" is a hard term to use, and this is a weakness in my post for sure. Eg. I do not trust any data from China or other authoritarian countries. Also it is complicated to determine what "better" means and what plays into that. So this is something I shouldn't have implied. Point taken.
Most parts seem to do "better" though, especially those that are somewhat comparable to the US. Like mine. We weathered the first peak and new infections go down significantly; so we can seriously consider carefully opening the country up again soon. This also is the result of a swift, expertise-driven response with much testing and without false information, efforts to downplay, monkey wrenches and political bickering from the top.
As for the US, I don't see reason for any such optimism. Your infection curve is steeper and isn't as significantly flattening. On a more personal viewpoint, I'd guess the US would be off way worse if your governors hadn't taken matters in their own hands and applied sensible measures more or less on their own behalf. I'd wager that's what's somehow saving you from even more devastation.
Italy sure got overwhelmed. But this was very early on, and there was way less information around. Not that they handled it brilliantly, they sure did not and they deserve critizism. But there are some other important factors at play as well, eg. the overaged society, and the higher population density. Considering the second fact alone (Europe's density is 3.5 times higher than the US'), Europe as a a whole should be hit in a way more devastating manner.
But sure, Italy made mistakes, as did GB, no one is prone to that, including Trump. Mismanagement happened everywhere, so I wouldn't hang Trump for a hindsight mistake that was corrected. What Italy's leaders, as awful as they usually are, didn't do though was giving out a staccato of false or misleading information, or viewpoints and actions undermining health experts or regional leaders from unappreciated parties. No other democratic leader I know of acted as irresponsible as Trump. What this ultimately leads to remains to be seen.
PS As for Cuomo, what I thought he did very well was communicating why certain measures are in place and why they are sensible. That NY was hit that hard has much to do with it being a metropoly with much traffic and much human interaction from all kinds of folks. An epidemic usually hits cities way harder than less densely populated areas. That's just the nature of a contagious virus.
![[Image: 4CV0TeR.png]](https://i.imgur.com/4CV0TeR.png)