[M T]

I disagree because the "necessary steps" didn't happen until the horse was out of the barn, so to speak.

It appears to me that China responded more quickly than the US.  (IMO, the US opened the barn door and continue to send the horses out to graze on their own.)

1 Dec - patient 0 gets symptoms.
8 Dec - patient 0 seeks medical care.
27 Dec - Dr. Zhang reports a cluster (4) of unusual pneumonia cases
30 Dec - active case finding starts
31 Dec - WHO is notified   (12 new cases/day)
1 Jan - a suspect hotspot is closed
7 Jan -  Virus identified
13 Jan - test kits become available
20 Jan -  WHO reports 278 conf. cases in Wuhan (60 new), 6 deaths
23 Jan - Wuhan shut down
24 Jan - 15 other cities shut down
18 Feb - maximum number of patients (38,000) in hospitals (NOTE: In China, all those with positive tests were put in hospitals.)

If you were to think of King County as the US's Wuhan...
Population: King County 2.2M; Seattle metro 3.5M;   Wuhan: 11M,   metro 19M
King County knew of the disease.  This wasn't something they had to figure out on their own.

Jan 19 - First case in US, in Washington State. (date of sample; announced 2 days later). Not in King County.
Feb. 26 - First death in King County (retrospective; undiagnosed)
Mar 5 - 20 new cases, 51 total, 10 deaths 
Mar 8 - 12 new cases, 83 total, 17 deaths

Seattle on March 8 has a higher density of cases & deaths than Wuhan on January 20.
Anyone thinking Seattle will be shut down in 3 days?

The US is far worse off than China of January 20.  China outside of Wuhan only had 24 cases.

P.S. I spoke to a prominent doctor that could not even imagine all the positive cases going into the hospital in the US or elsewhere.


Useful links:
EPA's list of disinfectants for Covid-19
Handwashing & wiping down surface tips  It pointed out some things I had been doing wrong.

[M T]

I disagree because the "necessary steps" didn't happen until the horse was out of the barn, so to speak.

It appears to me that China responded more quickly than the US.  (IMO, the US opened the barn door and continue to send the horses out to graze on their own.)

1 Dec - patient 0 gets symptoms.
8 Dec - patient 0 seeks medical care.
27 Dec - Dr. Zhang reports a cluster (4) of unusual pneumonia cases
30 Dec - active case finding starts
31 Dec - WHO is notified   (12 new cases/day)
1 Jan - a suspect hotspot is closed
7 Jan -  Virus identified
13 Jan - test kits become available
20 Jan -  WHO reports 278 conf. cases in Wuhan (60 new), 6 deaths
23 Jan - Wuhan shut down
24 Jan - 15 other cities shut down
18 Feb - maximum number of patients (38,000) in hospitals (NOTE: In China, all those with positive tests were put in hospitals.)

If you were to think of King County as the US's Wuhan...
Population: King County 2.2M; Seattle metro 3.5M;   Wuhan: 11M,   metro 19M
King County knew of the disease.  This wasn't something they had to figure out on their own.

Jan 19 - First case in US, in Washington State. (date of sample; announced 2 days later). Not in King County.
Feb. 26 - First death in King County (retrospective; undiagnosed)
Mar 5 - 20 new cases, 51 total, 10 deaths 
Mar 8 - 12 new cases, 83 total, 17 deaths

Seattle on March 8 has a higher density of cases & deaths than Wuhan on January 20.
Anyone thinking Seattle will be shut down in 3 days?

The US is far worse off than China of January 20.  China outside of Wuhan only had 24 cases.

P.S. I spoke to a prominent doctor that could not even imagine all the positive cases going into the hospital in the US or elsewhere.


Useful links:
EPA's list of disinfectants for Covid-19
Handwashing & wiping down surface tips  It pointed out some things I had been doing wrong.