(08-09-2020 03:03 PM)PTJR Wrote:  

(08-09-2020 02:02 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(08-09-2020 01:36 PM)McLeansvilleAppFan Wrote:  

(08-09-2020 01:06 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(08-09-2020 12:57 PM)panama Wrote:  What if we had not demonized masks and social distancing the last three months...?

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

We’re still in this same spot. Some care very little about all this, some care quite a lot. It’s just how life works

New Zealand seems to be doing things right. They are much smaller than us but even our states that have a population density similar to New Zealand are in a bad spot. New Zealand was hosting rugby matches the last I heard.

I could have been different. Not a guarantee it would have been but I do think very likely different is for off the mark-had we just worn masks early on.

New Zealand is an isolated island in the South Pacific. They locked down 95 percent of the country, severely limited residents freedom of movement. They closed the borders completely to the point that even their own citizens stuck overseas were not allowed in, and after 6 weeks of basically putting everyone on home confinement, they finally eradicated the virus.

Once that happened, in order to keep it out, they had to run one of the most extensive quarantine programs ever, so they could slowly allow their own citizens to return.

Yes, New Zealand has shut the virus out to the point they've returned to normal. However, they also are stuck where they are. Large portions of their economy relies on tourism, and in order to successfully keep up what they are doing, they'll have to keep the borders closed until a vaccine is able to come in and inoculate enough of the population.

They made sacrifices that few Americans would agree to make, and they have to hope they don't screw up like Australia did. Australia managed to virtually shut the virus out, only to have a couple people running the quarantine program screwed up, and restarted an outbreak that has forced large portions of the country to lock down again.

The point you make quite well is that New Zealand, and many other countries, bit the bullet and did what was necessary to get the virus under control. The US refused to do that. Now those other countries are reaping the benefit of their sacrifice of an extra month or so of stringent lockdown, and are returning to something like normal.

On the other hand, the US is not only not getting back to normal, things are getting worse. And the longer we refuse to do what is necessary to get this under control, the longer it is going to continue to screw up our lives. Regardless of what you hear some politicians say, this virus is not just going to disappear and go away on its own!

In a sense, yes they bit the bullet. However they also had a population that is well known for largely trusting its leadership. And even then, there have been false starts. Australia made one single mistake , and ended up right back where they started. You can work to eradicate the virus through full scale distancing, but not only must you convince your population to do it, but then you have to make zero mistakes once you've done it.

Simply put, I don't think many of you know the level of lockdowns that New Zealand, Australia, and others went through to get rid of the virus. How many of you would sign up for a society in which the police could legally stop you and check your address and name any time you left your home to ensure you were within your assigned "containment zone"? (Aus and NZ) How many of you would agree to download a tracking App on your phone that the government has the legal right to check at all times that records your every movement, and can alert them if you go somewhere you aren't supposed to (South Korea) How many of you would willfully agree to be sent to containment centers if you had Mild symptoms of the virus so you could not spread the virus to your own family (China)

You can stop the virus...but unless you are 100 percent willing to take steps that no American has ever been asked to take, there's little chance success. To this point, only New Zealand and Iceland have managed to virtually eliminate the virus.