Might be a blessing in disguise. People will become afraid well before it reaches their country. Maybe we actually have the willpower to stop it if it's actually quite lethal, and then it's indeed RIP (COVID). Since we apparently can't manage to announce a few months ahead a global 2 week lockdown, just stock up and afterwards nobody is infectious anymore. For the few essential people that need to be out (doctors, caretakers, police), switch on the last day and they now isolate for two weeks. Probably best to also add self-tests to the mix towards the end of the two weeks. Instead, so far, we'd rather have intermittent half-assed lockdowns for years on end and millions of deaths. Idk, a proper lethal variant (with the infectiousness before symptoms like it is now, else it wouldn't spread) might motivate us to solve the problem rather than to keep failing to try.
It's functionally impossible to have a global lockdown. Absolutely impossible for every country in the world at the same time. Just think outside your continent for 3 minutes.
Developing worlds, populations with millions living in poverty. Billions of people without the money to buy things two weeks in advance. Millions of food producers without the facility to produce and store 2 weeks worth of things for people. Now consider enforcement, healthcare, transportation, logistics, communication, borders, active wars and civil wars going on right now, etc. Let alone the normal international political cooperation needed.
It's actually totally impossible for it to happen simultaneously at a global level. I'd say it's probably also impossible for the majority of countries in the world (i.e. not rich) to have an effective lockdown at all at any time.
Even with a global lockdown, there will always be a reservoir of virus somewhere.
Some immunocompromised people can carry the virus for weeks.
Also, what about households where one person catches COVID the day before lockdown, incubates for a few days (asymptomatically), then transmits it to another person in the household, who also incubates for a few days...
At the end of the two week lockdowns, some people will still be contagious.
