Muh Muh Muh My Corona (virus)

Containing travel between China and the US nearly impossible. Containing travel within China itself simply impossible.

 

It is *not* impossible. In fact, in the event of an honest to god outbreak, it is imperative to do so to preserve the health of the country/world at large. What it would require, though, is a government who sees that a pandemic is starting and is determined to do everything possible to prevent its spread.

Basically, you identify Patient Zero, the person who brought the infection. You isolate him. You take his history and you find and isolate everyone he got anywhere near. People on the plane with him, the people who met him, his cab driver, basically everyone who was at the airport. You clamp them down and observe to see if it is spreading. You put in ring barriers - you set roadblocks and don't let *anyone* out of the infected area. Anyone. You shoot the jackasses who think their business or desires are more important than safety at large. You build more rings, a series of them, around the infection. No one, no one, is allowed out. Period. You enforce this ruthlessly for the protection of the public at large. You ban all gatherings of people in groups - church, sports, whatever. You ban travel.

You ground the planes. You don't allow them to land. If you have to shoot down an airliner to make it clear that you're dead serious about *no planes landing here until further notice*, you do it. This goes worldwide. Wanna bet that the Swiss couldn't close and enforce their borders? It can be done - if you have the smarts to see the need and the will to make it happen.

Yes, this requires a level of resolve that we've seen no sign of in recent years. The Capitol is full of people with no spines who couldn't/wouldn't do it. It would require a President with resolve and smart advisors and military commanders. God help us if it happens with Trump in office, because we'd die in our thousands.

The only good part about it happening in China is that the rulers there have an authoritarian level of control and could far more easily enforce this sort of thing, as opposed to here, where there would be thousands of people trying to evade the roadblocks because they've had this trip to Florida planned for months, and by God they're going, etc.

 

Untrue. China is a dictatorship. Oh, sure … they couch it in polite terms, but it’s a dictatorship.

 

It's a dictatorship for sure. But it's also got 1.3 billion people, and you can't just cut off communications with tens of millions of them without social chaos. How're they gonna eat or transport the goods they make around the country if there's no travel of trucks and freight trains? The fear of social chaos is a much stronger motivator of the government than a mere virus.

 

It may be too late already. The virus has an incubation period of 2 weeks, so it’s likely already spread around a good part of the globe.

Coronavirus Death Toll Rises in China as U.S. Reports Second Case

 

The truth is that unless this coronavirus goes wildfire we in the U.S. are in far more danger from the flu. That said, death count is now at 41.

 

Since, as I alluded to before, coronavirus is a dog disease ... and this is the Lunar New Year ...

Is this China's Pet Offensive?

 

Hard to say. But their Kung Flu is strong.

 

Op-Ed: This new coronavirus was preventable. But we never seem to learn the lessons of former outbreaks

 

My daughter tells me that the first confirmed case of the virus has been found -- in Bordeaux, the city where she lives. Lots of wine industry folks travel to and from China. She says she and her co-workers thoughtfully checked the travel itinerary of their head of China sales. He's been on vacation in London the last two weeks, so they were relieved.

 

It’s spreading faster.