I've been wondering... with how this spreads and how long it sticks around... how good of an idea is it really to put all of these heavy restrictions on for 30+ days?
Prevention I get. Total halt on travel and general avoidance of heavily communal areas makes sense... for a little while. And then time goes by and people run out of money. Their jobs cease to exist. Then what? Governments everywhere take huge deficits to bail everyone out so cities and towns don't start collapsing like dominoes? Where is the line? Does anybody know?
I feel like they can try to keep the heavy restrictions going, but ultimately it's not going to stop the virus. Everybody wants to stop the virus. It's not possible. Just as it isn't possible for people to really live under these restrictions indefinitely. Sometimes I wonder if governments just think that it'll go away if we wait long enough. Maybe holding out for the miracle cure. But even if that was true, not much of a world left by then...
I don't think it's going to work. I'm waiting for the major problems and serious unrest to take hold. This whole situation is kind of unprecedented and the consequences for the actions being taken really aren't known well enough. I will be surprised if things don't loosen up before things really settle down. The world, as it currently runs, stops for nobody... because it can't. Is that a foolish way for mankind to operate? I mean... haven't we all known the answer? It seems like we've always been moving too fast. Makes slowing down almost seem worse than what we have to slow down for, you know?
At best, we buy some time for people to move through the hospitals and get everyone on the same page, as well as learn more about the symptoms and how to treat it. Just keep people from propagating it quite as quickly and just focus on bolstering treatment as much as humanly possible. Cuz, I mean... the world can't wait forever. I've said a bunch that I am all for caution and slowing down, but it's getting to the point where people aren't even scared of the virus... they're scared of what is going to happen to their lives. "Self-induced major global recession" sounds like something that can and really, seriously needs to be avoided.
We're at a point now where better risk assessment needs to be done and a better balance will need to be struck, BEFORE signs of major socioeconomic damage start to show. The time to close-up has come and gone for most places. Over here in the US, it makes more sense to slow down quickly - we're just getting started with the spreading and now is the time to minimize. But how long can this really take to saturate for countries already hit hard? How long can they afford to wait? Do we really want to find out the hard way what local and global economies can bear? I see little talk of this on the news. It's almost like nobody wants to think about it right now. I think that's a huge mistake.
Another thing I see that's weird to me... specifically in America. The whole focus is on the number of deaths, which is what arguably matters the least. It's not that people dying doesn't matter, but if we're accounting for all of the undocumented cases, the death ratio is probably a lot lower than it looks. What I wish we'd focus on was the number of hospitalizations and serious cases requiring treatment. It's great that most people are recovering, but all of those people have to move through the healthcare system in short order. Overburdened hospitals have a trickle-out effect on all patients. That's why slowing it down a bit is important. Not leaving everything to rot matters too, though.
The best we've ever had are common sense preventative measures. I.E.: "slow down," not "stop." This isn't something to "win" or get on top of. That's not the name of the game. The question is how to ride it out and still keep moving. It'll be interesting to see how things unfold with the restrictions being proposed here. I think they're shooting for the moon. I don't think we can really afford the hit in the end and I'm sure plans will change by the week. But then, what the hell do I know? Honestly, jack shit at this point.
I just see a pattern. It starts hitting, we tighten down. "It's not working." So we tighten down more. "IT'S STILL GETTING WORSE!" Now we can't tighten down more, things are falling apart. "WHY ISN'T THIS WORKING?!" What can be done at that point? Could it maybe just be too late? I think it might be. Beyond a pandemic, the last thing anybody wants is a pandemic and a collapsing economy simultaneously. That's not really better.
I'm of the simple wisdom "Do what makes sense." As in, maybe let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater over this pandemic. It's serious, but far from the only major factor in this situation. The deaths might not even be the worst part of it.
I dunno. It doesn't seem right. I get this unsettling sense of tunnel vision.
I hope to hear more like that.....
