
Bay Area doctor who ordered America’s first coronavirus lockdown - georgecmu
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/29/she-shut-down-the-bay-area-to-slow-the-deadly-coronavirus-none-of-us-really-believed-we-would-do-it/
======
redis_mlc
The lockdown was a reasonable decision at the time when there was a belief
that we had a ventilator gap, because nobody bothered to read the papers
written by Chinese doctors on how ventilators don't work (66% to 90%
mortality.)

Now we know it was a mistake. And we should re-evaluate the information we
have and end the lockdown.

It was a mistake because we (the US) still don't have adequate testing or
tracing capabilities, and no cure in sight.

~~~
nikofeyn
> we (the US) still don't have adequate testing or tracing capabilities, and
> no cure in sight.

this is what is crazy. the u.s. has quite literally made the decision to make
the effects of this virus the worst possible ones and to let them linger in
both space and time. the whole response is to lie and divert and half ass
everything such that infections and deaths keep rising, unemployment
skyrockets, the economy tanks, etc. it is really despicable, and i am
seriously beginning to worry about being in the u.s. through the next six
months.

i mean, did the u.s. even consider trying to learn from even a single other
country? it is really showcasing the vast systemic problems we have in this
country that everyone talks about but then dismisses and then ignores. our
government and support structure is wholly fragmented, and we have
corporations rushing in thinking they can save the day. meanwhile, countries
with universal healthcare, welfare, and support structures are breezing
through this.

~~~
IfIEverCatchYou
> meanwhile, countries with universal healthcare, welfare, and support
> structures are breezing through this.

Name me a country with universal healthcare with a lower COVID-19 death rate
per capita than the US.

~~~
vlovich123
Canada. Ontario has a per-capita death rate of <2 per 100000. New York State
is at 32 (~17x higher) with Ontario having ~75% of the population of New York
State. I'm sure this changes when you start looking at urban areas but I
suspect the stats hold up pretty well.

[1] USA breakdown [https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109011/coronavirus-
covi...](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109011/coronavirus-
covid19-death-rates-us-by-state/) [2] Google summarizes the Wikipedia data for
the Canadian rates

