I'm not clear on why you have such a negative take on the response to the pandemic in general. I thought the speed of development and delivery of the mRNA vaccines was nothing short of unprecedented. A lot of things went wrong, but drug development and delivery wasn't one of them IMO.
> speed of development and delivery of the mRNA vaccines was nothing short of unprecedented
That was the only thing that was better than expected.
We were flying completely blind at the start of the pandemic (when there was a chance of containment) because the CDC had a completely flawed test and banned every other alternative.
I'd ask which country wasn't? We were dealing with a novel virus. Even China which has dealt with new viral outbreaks before (I'm ignoring any insinuation of their foreknowledge of covid), is STILL struggling.
Literally every country in Southeast Asia had far, far fewer deaths because they were able to contain the spread far better than the US. Just spend 2 minutes looking at the statistics.
Australia had 15,000 total deaths compared to the US's 1 million.
> Even China which has dealt with new viral outbreaks before (I'm ignoring any insinuation of their foreknowledge of covid), is STILL struggling.
Struggling is a relative term. China has reported 5k deaths from COVID. Even if you don't believe numbers from the CCP, even 10x that (50k deaths) is far, far better than the US.
Right now, China is "struggling" because they're still clinging to zero-covid policies. They'll lock an entire neighborhood down over a few cases.
As you probably know, these things grow exponentially, so containing the spread at the very start is really, really crucial.
We were completely blind during the start of the pandemic due almost entirely to failures by the CDC.
Statistics flatten reality. Masking is much more appropriate (and followed) in Asia. Australia had less movement.
The reality is that precautions were not followed in the US for the sake of "liberty" and that had consequences
I really don't see how we could be less "blind". What were we supposed to see? You haven't outlined anything that these other countries "saw" that we didn't.
> able to contain the spread far better than the US
In my opinion a good deal of this was due to the fact that this entire event turned political from the very start. I am not being dramatic when I say that politicians, due to party and ideological loyalty, quite literally, killed people. It's hard to estimate how many. The number certainly has to be between tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.
> We were completely blind during the start of the pandemic due almost entirely to failures by the CDC.
No, we were not. The instant Trump closed the door to travel from China I knew we were in for an event that was several standard deviations away from the norm. Ideology aside, a POTUS does not make a move like that in isolation. The data had to be absolutely overwhelming.
As an informed observer I was paying attention. The instant I thought "this is several standard deviations from the norm" I took action. I ordered a supply of food and other necessary items (and yes, masks) to last several months. I covered my immediate and extended family (because nobody listens and everyone who gets their information from mainstream media is living in a fantasy made-up of lies).
If I remember correctly, that was mid January 2020. All of my supplies arrived and were put away before the panic started. We barely had to go to the market for a year.
Regarding politicians killing people. A lot of those videos have been deleted from YouTube and other places. They can be hard to find. Here's a few that are still up. All after Trump's travel ban (again a "tilt" event in terms of SD from the mean).
Just like the normal flu
We should relax
We don't think it's going to be as bad as it is in other places
We have been ahead of this from day one
Go about your lives
Go about your business
There has to be prolonged exposure
Just wash your hands
No need to do anything special
We want New Yorkers to go about their daily lives
Ride the subway, ride the bus, go see your neighbors
We have the equipment
It's not like we are dealing with something we haven't dealt with before
We have the ability to address this
We have the capacity to keep this contained
Like the normal flu
The local risk is low
Our preparedness is high
Go about your lives
No indication to be using masks
We have measures
We have screening
No indication that going through the subway is a risk factor
No indications to be using masks
False sense of security
The risk is low
These are just some of the links I kept as I chronicled this historical event. A lot of the links I recorded have been deleted.
If you do watch these, pay attention to the dates. Keep in mind that Trump and his team sounded the alarm in early January and the Chinese travel ban went into effect at the end of January.
These people, in very real terms, caused hundreds of thousands of people to become infected. When panic ensued, masses of people left the NY area, carrying the virus everywhere in the country. Yes, these politicians likely killed hundreds of thousands of people. I think that much is without dispute. Nobody talks about it, of course. Because ideology and party are more important than lives. As a classical liberal/libertarian I find this kind of thing to be in a range between revolting and criminal.
To maybe help defuse: it looks to me like dntrkv was actually agreeing with you (and talking about dereg's post), but it seems like you misunderstood, and then alex_young probably misread you as being dereg given your reply.
