We absolutely should be throwing massive amounts of shade at China for this. Not for "creating" the virus, but for lying about it to the world, silencing medical professionals who tried to warn others, and refused help from the rest of the world in initial containment.
Yes, the Chinese government didn't look into it seriously enough for too long - and should have never let the Lunar New Year festivities proceed. Italian national government should have also quarantined the Lombardy region at least a week sooner - and stopped the Venice festival.
Similarly, the US should have taken a much harder stance in February. In February, people at the top were outright denying this virus being anything more than a flu. Stock market good = everything OK. State and local governments had to act on their own; businesses had to shut down voluntarily, If there is any lesson learnt from China and Italy vs, say, HK, New Zealand, and Singapore, it's that you have to nip this thing right in the bud. When the numbers are low. Less than 100.
And the harder stance I am referring to isn't the international travel ban. In February, it was already too late. The harder stance means social distancing. Cancelling schools, events, sports, public gatherings, flights, cruises, all starting in February. Non-essential store closures. Priority access to testing kits. Declaring that national emergency.
smmco said:
I can't see that happening in this country. I don't know why Italy is struggling so much, but I think we'll be able to handle it similar to Japan and South Korea. .
The ventilators in a hospital are a stationary equipment attached to the ventilation system. You can't just rip them out from one hospital in one region and take to another. If a region gets overwhelmed by too many cases of respiratory failures and there aren't enough ventilators, yes, patients sadly will start to die. Whether in the US or Italy.
Take a look at this chart for an honest assessment of whether we can handle it the same way as Japan and South Korea: