[Goose]

Shrug on this whole "what if" speculation because any assumption/belief that the US would have ever been able to control the virus with track and trace like other countries strikes me as irrational and fanciful.

Strangely, I agree with you that we were not in a position to attempt this when the pandemic started. Our local health departments were too vestigial to do it. I do NOT think it was fanciful to expect them to be built up to the point that by July they could have done so. The problem was that not enough energy was directed at doing so, and even more importantly no energy was directed toward getting public cooperation with such efforts. The political class was unwilling to tell people they were going to be required to quarantine and isolate as required, and that they would be compelled to do so if necessary. Without that level of commitment, it was never going to work.

[Goose]

Shrug on this whole "what if" speculation because any assumption/belief that the US would have ever been able to control the virus with track and trace like other countries strikes me as irrational and fanciful.

Strangely, I agree with you that we were not in a position to attempt this when the pandemic started. Our local health departments were too vestigial to do it. I do NOT think it was fanciful to expect them to be built up to the point that by July they could have done so. The problem was that not enough energy was directed at doing so, and even more importantly no energy was directed toward getting public cooperation with such efforts. The political class was unwilling to tell people they were going to be required to quarantine and isolate as required, and that they would be compelled to do so if necessary. Without that level of commitment, it was never going to work.