Hacker News Reader

Comment by jacquesm | Hacker News Reader

There are only a few countries that really shut down (some only regional): New Zealand, Japan, Australia and China (others?). This one graph shows how effective it was and if we'd all done that the difference would be enormous, even for the countries that did shut down.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_by_country_a...

View on HN

Without a really deep dive I'm not certain the island-country numbers of Australia or Japan would be achievable in the US, but if I use Canada as a "certainly achievable standin" I would state my position as "unconvinced that the marginal benefits of additional restrictions initially + for longer would be worth it" but also "entirely convinced that if the US hadn't taken the steps it did, both individually and governmentally, that number would be many multiples higher."

The "none of this was necessary" position is just ultra-revisionist and often makes arguments as if today's variant and transmission environment is the environment that was in place in March 2020. It also ignores that individuals will make their own choices to change their behavior in the face of a new threat. "Not massively damaging some sectors of the economy" was never an option.

Without global coordination it's a wash. With global coordination it might have made a difference.

> Without a really deep dive I'm not certain the island-country numbers of Australia or Japan would be achievable in the US

If “being an island nation” was all it took to eradicate Covid, why was Hawaii unable to do so?

It’s clear border security was a rather important factor. And can you think of a more essential responsibility of government than securing the borders?

Gentle reminder that Australia is an “island country” the size of the continental US with several densely-populated major cities.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com