All the work that has been done will be wasted if the spread isn’t stopped and mass testing and vaccination done worldwide and quickly.
I keep asking myself where could be now if there had been a coordinated global effort last March to literally shut the world down for a month. Where people would have been told to stay home and work from home or school, except essential workers, food delivered to households and mandatory masks law and meeting restrictions and borders closed and no air travel, no cruise ships etc. Simultaneously, mass testing to identify where the virus was and stop asymptomatic spread. That alone would have prevented the out of control spread. Stopped it in its tracks. A virus without hosts can’t spread. Then after a month they could have transitioned to slowly opening up with limited restrictions and testing and limited but controlled interstate and international travel.
All the leaders and governments and businesses could worry about last March of 2020 was what it would do to the “precious economy”. And yet look where we are a year later and the loss of human life, mental health crisis and much more. The spread continues and mutations are now becoming predominant.
While the science community developed at record speed a vaccine, if we don’t limit the continuing spread and vaccinate enough people quickly, the vaccines may not be effect against the mutations. And if that happens, I seriously fear where we may be a year from now. And then the radical idea of shutting down the world last March and giving the population of the world a pause, even if it had meant the world economies came to a halt except for essential production and delivery of food and medicine etc wouldn’t seem so radical because then we might have stopped the virus and kept it in check until there was a vaccine.
Staying home (distancing), no travel, masks and testing. Those were the tools in our tool box a year ago and we as a world population with the guidance of our governments and medical communities working together all sadly didn’t do it as needed.
Look at Germany right now. Then look at New Zealand. (We already know what happened in US)
Germany did it right...at first. Then with the exception of a mandatory mask mandate in stores, they had schools open, restaurants open, borders open again in the summer in Europe and people going on vacation to Spain and Italy etc and visitors coming to Germany and next to no testing. Events like Oktoberfest canceled but then thousands of large “private” mini Oktoberfest celebrations with people convening and celebrating without masks - people from all over Europe - including lots of Brits - were in Germany. People from all over driving from various countries over the borders and not tested and asymptomatic spread....as the variants took hold. Schools left open and kids who tended to be asymptomatic spreading it to families and communities. By September of 2020 the numbers of dead were steadily starting to climb - by November it was too late. Now Germany has a higher death rate per capital than the US and the mutations are becoming predominant. And yet while the German Government argues on what to do and have a harder lockdown or not - Germans get on planes and head to Mallorca. And vaccinations are stunted because of the failure to have planned better, not just in Germany but around the EU.
Then look at New Zealand - they had a hard lockdown from the start and they closed their borders and had strict testing. And yes, they are an “island” but it demonstrates how they could protect their population and control the spread. Life in New Zealand is now normal and it’s safe. You wouldn’t know there was a virus.
I don’t have the answers but I know that I am worried right now and after witnessing what has gone wrong in Germany, I am really concerned about what is coming next. We know what went wrong in US under the lack of leadership of Trump. But if we don’t keep vigilant and mask and have limited travel and mass testing and vaccination we could find ourselves going backwards fast.
= new reply since forum marked as read
come ON, Mother Earth, give us a break
