Remember in the early days when Japan was an epicenter of Covid?
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Today the US had more new cases than Japan has had in total over the last 10 months.
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One of the greatest strength of the US is the 50 individual states, but in something like this pandemic, a overall national rules were needed.
Maybe it is not possible to have this in the US, but now, there is this long draw out pain.
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Interesting. I was just reading about their big suicide spike yesterday.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/28/asia/japan-suicide-women-covid-dst-intl-hnk/index.html
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"In Japan, government statistics show suicide claimed more lives in October than Covid-19 has over the entire year to date. The monthly number of Japanese suicides rose to 2,153 in October, according to Japan's National Police Agency. As of Friday, Japan's total Covid-19 toll was 2,087, the health ministry said.".
Still, I wonder how they are counting COVID deaths. 2,087 seems awfully low for a country with 126 million, and that an aging population.
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Different countries, different cultures.
The difference between herding cows and herding cats.
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@Jolly said in Remember in the early days when Japan was an epicenter of Covid?:
Different countries, different cultures.
The difference between herding cows and herding cats.
Yup.
Thailand, A country with 65 million people, has had 60 total deaths.
But again, they had a national rules which were required by all provinces within the country. They extended the bubble for the country to the border.
In hindsight, if the US would’ve done something like that back in the spring, it would have been devastating for a month or two, but things would be “back to normal” now In terms of restaurants, stores, churches, small businesses. Instead, the US has kind of had a slow bleed.
One state or province does one thing, but the next-door state or province does something different, the whole thing falls apart.
Countries that have been most successful pretty much put a bubble around the whole country. Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, and yes, even China.
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The bubble doesn't last forever. Viruses do not respect bubbles...
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@Jolly said in Remember in the early days when Japan was an epicenter of Covid?:
The bubble doesn't last forever. Viruses do not respect bubbles...
I agree. That is why hopefully the vaccine will be here in the next six months or so. Meanwhile, I believe those countries will continue to maintain the bubble.
InSide the bubble, life goes on as normal
If US had done this, then I think we would be a lot better off.
However, I don’t think it was possible, either legally or culturally to do in the US
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@taiwan_girl said in Remember in the early days when Japan was an epicenter of Covid?:
@Jolly said in Remember in the early days when Japan was an epicenter of Covid?:
The bubble doesn't last forever. Viruses do not respect bubbles...
I agree. That is why hopefully the vaccine will be here in the next six months or so. Meanwhile, I believe those countries will continue to maintain the bubble.
InSide the bubble, life goes on as normal
If US had done this, then I think we would be a lot better off.
However, I don’t think it was possible, either legally or culturally to do in the US
Everyone said Trump was lying about the availability of the virus. The bubble would have been easier to create if we knew we had an end game in sight in a reasonable time.
Amazingly most healthcare workers and first responders (police officers, teachers, bus drivers)will be vaccinated by Inauguration Day. Never heard MSM talk about that possibility before the election but it will happen. How did they miss that?
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@Loki If there had been a Democrat in the white house, I believe we would be in the same situation today. The Democrat would not have handled it any better/worse.
It couldn't or wouldn't be done by the President (of either party) to completely shut down the country for ~ 2 months, and keep the bubble in place until the vaccine is available.
Instead, there has been semi-restrictions in place for 8 months or so which do not solve the problem. A country needs to be 100% unison on what needs to be done, not 80%, not 90%, not even 95%.
(of course, it is easy for me to say this after seeing what has occurred)
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@taiwan_girl I totally agree with you that if it’s not 100% it will fail. No way this country was up for that and it wasn’t a political thing. It’s amazing for example that other countries have such sway on youth, not gonna happen in the US
But how amazing is it the so many important people are about to get the vaccine! I’m still a little stunned the vaccine rollout isn’t getting more press.
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@taiwan_girl said in Remember in the early days when Japan was an epicenter of Covid?:
It couldn't or wouldn't be done by the President (of either party) to completely shut down the country for ~ 2 months, and keep the bubble in place until the vaccine is available.
Lucky for us the president has no such authority.
Let's not forget that the whole world depends on our economy.
And we, in the USA, depend on it heavily.
You can't just stop it for free, and expect it to just come back to life when you want.
Sorry, it doesn't work that way.
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@Copper said in Remember in the early days when Japan was an epicenter of Covid?:
@taiwan_girl said in Remember in the early days when Japan was an epicenter of Covid?:
It couldn't or wouldn't be done by the President (of either party) to completely shut down the country for ~ 2 months, and keep the bubble in place until the vaccine is available.
Lucky for us the president has no such authority.
Let's not forget that the whole world depends on our economy.
And we, in the USA, depend on it heavily.
You can't just stop it for free, and expect it to just come back to life when you want.
Sorry, it doesn't work that way.
It definitely would have been diificult, but I am guessing if you ask many local business man (example - restaurant) if it would have been better to have been completely shut for 2 months or do what has been happening over the past 9 months (25% capacity, maybe shutdown for 2 weeks, 50% capacity, back down to 25% capacity, only carry out, maybe outdoor dining, but no indoor, etc.), they would probably choose the 2 month 100% shutdown and be back to normal now.
What is the story about pulling a band aid all at once vs. slowly peeling it off.
But as I said (and others have point out), cultural, legal, and political reasons all prevented this from happening. And of course, it is always easy to look back and say, "what if...."
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Those that only worry about covid deaths are making a terrible mistake.
The world is not that simple.
There is no reason to believe that a 100% 2-month shutdown would be any more beneficial to the country than a 0% 2-month shutdown.
It might save the lives of some but take the lives of others. There is no way of knowing which.