What might that “drastic action” encompass? How about full stay-at-home orders.
All through the summer, public health experts were warning the fall and winter could be miserable in terms of an exponential growth in Covid-19 cases.
Now, that exponential growth has arrived, and the same officials aren’t any better prepared than they were back in February and March.
But we do know how to stop the spread and keep the economy open at the same time. We know, because they’ve done it in Norway, Finland, Slovakia, five Asian countries including China, South Korea and Japan as well as Australia and New Zealand.
The simple formula: Testing, contact tracing, quarantining and isolating those who test positive, and mask wearing.
But how can they test every single person? The simple answer is not every person has to be tested. A good sample will do the job. And how do you get people to “report” for testing? You don’t. You simply test at those locations where a lot of people are likely to be, such as bars, restaurants, grocery stores, churches, sporting events, etc.
It would have been better to have started this in August or September. But even now it could be — and, in our opinion, should be — implemented because widespread distribution of a vaccine won’t occur until late spring or early summer.
Instead, governors like California’s Gavin Newsom and New York’s Andrew Cuomo are relying on “microclosures,” targeting areas where the virus seems to be out of control. That’s good, but it’s also locking the barn door after the horse is out. The reason it’s inadequate is because the virus is being spread by people who exhibit no symptoms.
All the stimulus spending that President-elect Joe Biden might get passed won’t solve that problem.