We all want this pandemic to be over. We’re all tired of being afraid of this terrible disease. This is not a partisan issue, nobody wants to die, or see loved ones die, an awful death from this merciless illness.

I went into a pharmacy today and saw this sign on the door.

Immediate unkind thought: Ricky Gervais as prophet

Taiwan, population 24,000,000, flooded with Chinese tourists as COVID-19 hit. Total number of COVID-19 deaths in Taiwan: 7. They did this by quickly quarantining all infected (240,000 or so) and those who had contact with the infected, in their own homes, and bringing them all three meals a day at home while supervising quarantine with 3 random daily calls to government issued cellphones to ensure compliance. No lock down, healthy people wore masks, social distanced and were quickly tested if they felt symptoms, were immediately quarantined if infectious. Head of Taiwan’s pandemic response was a PhD trained at Johns Hopkins. The key to Taiwan’s success was their quick, smart action undertaken as early as possible [1].

It is likely that if our federal response had started along these lines when Mr. Trump told Bob Woodward how terrifying and deadly this airborne disease was, on February 7th, when he knew exactly what kind of plague we were up against, many, many, many, many, many American lives would have been saved. We’ll never know the number, but tens of thousands at minimum.

Not to be negative on the eve of our holiday dedicated to national gratefulness, thank God Operation Warp Speed is speeding along!

Happy Thanksgiving.

[1]

source: Larry Wilmore interview with Fareed Zakaria about his recent Ten Lessons for A Post-Pandemic World.