Re: Long-term view
Yes & no, if you look at countries like Vietnam, they certainly did have advantages in being able to lockdown hard with no compromise, they closed ff a province (pretty much like closing a county or state), they closed schools near the end of Jan, if a case appeared on a street they closed off the street and quarantined it. Definetly not easy to do in more democratic countries in Europe, USA. However worth noting they also really had the logistics of it worked out, they were practicing locking down streets and the reaction, the places locked down where fed 3 sq meals a day (and it looked pretty good TBH), doctors in, takeaways, shopping could be delivered to a pick up point etc etc. It's probably a lot easier facing getting your street quarantined when you know its being handled well.
Effectively though most of the country only experienced about 3 weeks of lockdown and it was hardly noticeable.
But countries that were democracies also did well kike New Zealand & Taiwan. I think aomw of it is because of how the goverments handled it. There was a certain trust in the goverment and thats because the goverment were being very clear with their messages and making sensible moves. Do sensible things, be properly organised, give sensible advice, give a united front, people are more likely to get on board. The whole tier system in the UK and rules is just bewildering.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
