> This is unprecedented, and it's only necessary because the government did not take steps to contain the outbreak sooner.
The whole world is shut down over COVID. Even with borders closed as much as possible it has spread. There is no intervention by the US government that could have been done in January that would mean the country would be open for business today.
> There is no intervention by the US government that could have been done in January that would mean the country would be open for business today.
Sure there was. Other countries did it. The US and the EU were caught unprepared but several countries in Asia did the right thing, probably because they had previous experience with SARS.
A total societal lockdown is not the only viable response to a disease like COVID-19. It might be the only viable late-stage response, but early testing, tracing, and quarantining has worked in other countries and it could have worked here if our government had been on the ball.
This is objectively incorrect. There were many countries that took a far more aggressive stance against the coronavirus and as a result have been able to better deal with it and the economic impacts.
The fact that people are repeating this lie is mind boggling and deserve to be called out because we literally saw this coming. We had months to prepare when we saw other countries dealing with the problem and did nothing.
The whole world is shut down over COVID. Even with borders closed as much as possible it has spread. There is no intervention by the US government that could have been done in January that would mean the country would be open for business today.