@Earl said in [Coronavirus Outbreak](/post/1132497) said:
@Tiger5150 said in [Coronavirus Outbreak](/post/1132495) said:
The CCP did not handle this well and IMO are responsible for it spreading to the rest of the world.
This is an opinion and I believe it's completely unrealistic. You are partially correct in that they should have stopped all travel immediately and locked the country down.
The thing is no other country has done this and I don't believe any other country would have.
Your opinion that they didn't handle it well isn't backed up by the data. I accept the data is probably really dodgy. I wouldn't be surprised if it comes out that much more people died in China that what has been reported however at this time it appears the government that you are so hell bent on criticizing have handled this better than the vast majority of western countries.
No country acted immediately. The impact of reacting immediately has too much of an effect on the economy. One of my kids is at school now.
Your argument doesn't cut it to me. It just comes across as completely delusional especially in relation to how the rest of the world have handled the situation.
Theoretically you are correct but in practice no country has done what you are suggesting.
Let me ask you this.
If you slept with a close female friend (or a male) that knew they had herpes, but they lied to you about it having it. Then, they went to great lengths to tell you the sores you were seeing were just a skin ailment that will clear up in time - "nothing to worry about Earl, you're paranoid". On top of that, she interfered with your ability to get an independent medical opinion.
Now let's say you're a bit of a ladies man Earl. All the while, you're out there swooning the ladies and spreading herpes to all your partners. Then those partners are out there doing the same.
Weeks later and after some serious pain and more research, You decide to get tested. You test positive and you realise she was lying to you all along, but it's too late. It's already moving from person to person, country to country. Now all you can do is let the issue take it's course.
In my opinion, the responsibility lies with the person that lied and tried to cover it up. In fact, the precedent on these health related issues is evident when people with HIV/AIDS neglect to tell their partners that they are infected. If you withhold that information, there are legal ramifications.
I think the point @Tiger5150 is making is that all countries have a very serious responsibility to notify the world of these potentially crippling illnesses as quickly as possible. The fact Chinese authorities were engaged in a cover up meant that by the time they decided to come clean, the virus had taken hold and it was too late. We were just lambs to the slaughter. It seemed that saving face was more important than the well being of their own people and the citizens of other countries. The countries that pour trillions of dollars of trade funds into China. China has failed the transparency test one too many times and I hope countries begin to pull back given Chinas poor record in this area.
If you want to talk about the RESPONSE to the virus, it shouldn't be put into the same discussion as the CAUSE. The cause is clear.
In fairness, the worlds response to the virus should not even be in question. Why? Because the best answer would have been to close down all borders of all countries. Well guess what? It still would have caused huge economic destruction to every country in the world. You only need to look at QANTAS to see how worldwide border closures would have impacted economies worldwide.
The real question is, why didn't China close its borders until their outbreak was nullified? The worldwide economic damage would have been averted as well as the health impact we are now seeing everywhere. Chinas decision to keep their borders open during this whole crisis just shows where the CCP priorities lie.