# Is the US doing enough to slow the spread of Covid-19? (public health) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [March 7, 2020, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-doing-enough-to-slow-the-spread-of-covid-19-public-health/849061 "2020-03-07T19:32:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-doing-enough-to-slow-the-spread-of-covid-19-public-health/849061/101 "2020-03-17T17:22:27Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I’m still not sure why this is confusing. Will you die if you do not do X? If no, then do not do X. > Yes; that seems prudent.Will either of you die of you do not have that conversation? If not, don’t have that conversation.Prolly.Will you die if you do not get food from a drive0thru? If not, then don’t get food from the drive thru. > Will you die if you do not sit in your friend’s living room and have a drink? If not, then don’t sit in your friends living room and have a drink. > This is the one thing you asked that is prolly safe to do, but again: will you die if you do not walk in the park? If not, then don’t walk in the park. > > IMO it’s actually a fairly simple directive with easily figured answers to your questions. The problem is that people, eventually, WILL start to die if those recommendations get adopted en masse over a prolonged period of time. Social isolation kills people. A crashed economy kills people. These things are not trivial, from a public health standpoint. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-doing-enough-to-slow-the-spread-of-covid-19-public-health/849061/102 "2020-03-17T17:38:51Z")
I am beginning to feel mildly optimistic. Trump seems to be taking it more seriously possibly as a result of the stock market crash ; clearly stock prices an important personal metric for him as a reflection of his perceived success as President. The Fed is moving aggressively and there appears to be a serious push for a big fiscal stimulus which is central to limiting the economic damage.Apparently everyone is a Keynesian in a foxhole. Finally and more speculatively there is some correlational evidence that the spread of the virus is slowed down by high temperatures. If that is a causal relationship the virus may indeed slow down in the summer and it may continue to spread more slowly in tropical countries which are generally the least equipped to handle a massive health emergency. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-doing-enough-to-slow-the-spread-of-covid-19-public-health/849061/103 "2020-03-17T17:41:56Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > The problem is that people, eventually, WILL start to die if those recommendations get adopted en masse over a prolonged period of time. Social isolation kills people. A crashed economy kills people. These things are not trivial, from a public health standpoint. Sure; what’s your timeline on that taking place? Is it more or less than 6 weeks before people die of social isolation, in your opinion? Is it more or less than 6 weeks before the economy crashes and people start dying related to that? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-doing-enough-to-slow-the-spread-of-covid-19-public-health/849061/104 "2020-03-17T18:09:27Z")
Before those things start to happen? It’s already too late for that. Deaths from all of those things can happen within days. Before those secondary effects hit their peak? They’ll continue having an effect for years or decades after the containment measures end. It’s a complicated subject, which is why we have highly-trained professionals who have been studying problems like this for decades, in order to make the best recommendations possible. Which is irrelevant, when everyone is ignoring those best-possible recommendations to institute draconian measures “just in case”. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-doing-enough-to-slow-the-spread-of-covid-19-public-health/849061/105 "2020-03-17T18:42:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It’s a complicated subject, which is why we have highly-trained professionals who have been studying problems like this for decades, in order to make the best recommendations possible. Which is irrelevant, when everyone is ignoring those best-possible recommendations to institute draconian measures “just in case”. Those highly-trained professionals were let go two years ago. The time for “best-possible recommendations” was three months ago. When you have poor planning and poor leadership, you end up with draconian “just in case” measures. If people are unhappy with the way this is turning out, they need to vote with their heads next time rather than with their hate and ignorance. Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-doing-enough-to-slow-the-spread-of-covid-19-public-health/849061/106 "2020-03-17T19:54:18Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I’m still not sure why this is confusing. Will you die if you do not do X? If no, then do not do X. > Yes; that seems prudent.Will either of you die of you do not have that conversation? If not, don’t have that conversation. Will you die if you do not get food from a drivethru? If not, then don’t get food from the drive thru. > Will you die if you do not sit in your friend’s living room and have a drink? If not, then don’t sit in your friends living room and have a drink. > This is the one thing you asked that is prolly safe to do, but again: will you die if you do not walk in the park? If not, then don’t walk in the park. > > IMO it’s actually a fairly simple directive with easily figured answers to your questions. I don’t talk about this a lot, but my mental health isn’t great, and I need some sort of human contact to maintain. So there is a very small but non-zero chance I might die without doing some of those things. Also, a lot of my friends are in the service industry. They might be able to make April’s rent, but most will be shit out of luck come May. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-doing-enough-to-slow-the-spread-of-covid-19-public-health/849061.md?page=5)