RE: COVID-19 vaccine
Trying to stay a little more data driven here, and a little less political...
Countries that can impose a true "lockdown" have been a lot more successful in controlling the virus, eg., New Zealand, Australia, S. Korea, Taiwan, Japan etc. They have more pliable populations, more experience with threatening viral illness (SARS) and, frankly, a better and more developed safety-net for business when they go into true lock-down mode. We have none of those and after the initial 2 week shutdown we haven't been too serious about really meaningful mitigation (like some of those other countries I mentioned) because...well, we feel like we really can't afford it, economically. And the mitigation efforts, in my opinion, have been half-hearted because of that. I live in a Covid hot-spot and, yes, we have been in what Texas says is heightened mitigation levels: closing of bars, reduction of restaurant capacity, etc. but, like Lad's comment, I really haven't seen any noticeable decrease in commerce. Parking lots are crammed with shoppers. Restaurants with waiting lines. etc All of this against a back-drop of ICUs at 90% capacity, record numbers of new cases, mobile morgues, medical staff at hospitals so depleted and exhausted that they are getting help from FEMA professionals.
It's truly a tale of 2 cities. One struggling to stay viable, economically, and the other struggling to stay viable, medically.
|