[Genuine Realist]

I read an article today about Germany’s response to the virus. Several factors struck me:

- Serious government response from the jump, based on having a plan and executing it
- An acceptance of science in part due to fact Chancellor has a Ph.D in quantum chemistry
- All 16 German states followed national government guidelines
- People trust the government
- An aversion to catastrophe based on WWII experience

One of the main tactical NPIs Germany instituted was no gatherings of more than 2 people for several weeks unless part of your household. They didn’t do a SIP. They didn’t have curfews. I believe they required masks and had crowd control at stores. They also did thorough contact tracing and the isolation stuff. This includes a two voluntary government sponsored mobile apps, one for reporting your symptoms and one for tracing purposes. Both voluntary and both anonymous. And they ramped up their testing very fast. Germany reported about 200 new infections today.

Our epidemic is so out of control it’s too late for the U.S. to do any of these things in time to prevent the disaster we are careening toward. I mean do any of y’all know of any apps developed by CDC that are about to be released? The reason Germany got its outbreak under control starts with the fact the country had a plan and followed it from the time the first case was reported. The series of steps it followed and everyone adhered to allowed it to bend down the curve.

Yes, I get we are different culturally than Germany, but even given that, if the U.S. had a national plan and all elected governments took the virus seriously from the beginning, I fully believe our citizens would have largely bought in and followed directions. We’d have our epidemic under control too. Maybe the scale of our COVID-19 Epidemic and the damage it causes becomes for the U.S. what WWII was for Germany in terms of never wanting to experience such a catastrophe again, and changing to make sure we don’t.

I don't think we had the national consensus you b suggest ever during the wars of national survival (the Civil War and WW II). Whatever policy should be adopted has to be based on the society as sit is, not as one would wish it to be (and most of us would NOT wish it to be in that form in any other circumstances but these). 

My own thought remains strict regulation of the major institutions that are regulable, hopefully trickling down in the proverbial manner.

[Genuine Realist]

I read an article today about Germany’s response to the virus. Several factors struck me:

- Serious government response from the jump, based on having a plan and executing it
- An acceptance of science in part due to fact Chancellor has a Ph.D in quantum chemistry
- All 16 German states followed national government guidelines
- People trust the government
- An aversion to catastrophe based on WWII experience

One of the main tactical NPIs Germany instituted was no gatherings of more than 2 people for several weeks unless part of your household. They didn’t do a SIP. They didn’t have curfews. I believe they required masks and had crowd control at stores. They also did thorough contact tracing and the isolation stuff. This includes a two voluntary government sponsored mobile apps, one for reporting your symptoms and one for tracing purposes. Both voluntary and both anonymous. And they ramped up their testing very fast. Germany reported about 200 new infections today.

Our epidemic is so out of control it’s too late for the U.S. to do any of these things in time to prevent the disaster we are careening toward. I mean do any of y’all know of any apps developed by CDC that are about to be released? The reason Germany got its outbreak under control starts with the fact the country had a plan and followed it from the time the first case was reported. The series of steps it followed and everyone adhered to allowed it to bend down the curve.

Yes, I get we are different culturally than Germany, but even given that, if the U.S. had a national plan and all elected governments took the virus seriously from the beginning, I fully believe our citizens would have largely bought in and followed directions. We’d have our epidemic under control too. Maybe the scale of our COVID-19 Epidemic and the damage it causes becomes for the U.S. what WWII was for Germany in terms of never wanting to experience such a catastrophe again, and changing to make sure we don’t.

I don't think we had the national consensus you b suggest ever during the wars of national survival (the Civil War and WW II). Whatever policy should be adopted has to be based on the society as sit is, not as one would wish it to be (and most of us would NOT wish it to be in that form in any other circumstances but these). 

My own thought remains strict regulation of the major institutions that are regulable, hopefully trickling down in the proverbial manner.