Why the hell, didn’t we just close the boarders before this virus got here !!

[Lardlizard]

Ffs we knew it was coming, why not, stop travel and only allow people back that live here and are returning home and put them in quarantine for two weeks
Before letting them go back home

I know that would cost a lot of money and cause a crazy amount of hassle
But surely this is far far worse ?!

At the time it would have seemed like a massive overreaction because things like SARS and bird flu were less serious than we expected. With hindsight you're right but I don't think anyone could have predicted this.

Because it was already here.

You've posted this in the wrong topic anyway.

It wasn’t already here was it? Before we knew about it ?

only allow people back that live here and are returning home
which is how it got here

Because the cost to the economy would have been too great

And china overreact to these things apparently

Because then we’d have to permanently close borders.

The aim of this whole business is to slow the spread, not stop it.

Although not 100%, the chances are once you’ve had this virus you’re immune.

If we’d closed borders and prevented it reaching UK population, we’d stay vulnerable to the virus. The rest of the world will build immunity and get back to normal. But if we then travelled, or allowed others in, we’d risk bringing the virus in.

As with any other disease, once we reach a certain% of those who are immune, it will die out.

Because the majority thought it was ‘just the flu’.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

“only allow people back that live here and are returning home
which is how it got here “
Bit of they were kept in quarantine
They wouldn’t spread it

“Because the cost to the economy would have been too great “

Surely the cost of what’s happening now will be greater ?

“If we’d closed borders and prevented it reaching UK population, we’d stay vulnerable to the virus. The rest of the world will build immunity and get back to normal. But if we then travelled, or allowed others in, we’d risk bringing the virus in.“

Ok blue zoo, I hadn’t thought of it like that, but I do see your point

If we’d closed borders and prevented it reaching UK population, we’d stay vulnerable to the virus. The rest of the world will build immunity and get back to normal. But if we then travelled, or allowed others in, we’d risk bringing the virus in.

This.

We would need to close the borders until a vaccine became available. Not reeeeeaaaalllly feasible is it?

It’s ‘border’ not ‘boarder’

LambriniSocialist I love your name

Trump actually banned flights from China early on and got roundly criticized for it, even the WHO called it premature ... turns out it was the right thing to do shockingly 😑

Well someone who lives near me came back from Italy already infected they live here in England so should we have told them nope sorry you can't come back to your own home?

How and where would you have quarantined people for two weeks after arrival in the UK ?

I know of people who came home from Italy and were told to self isolate
after they crossed London by public transport to get home

Because until about...oh...48 hours ago, if MN is vaguely representative of the UK population it was like a cold and anyone concerned about it was a scaremongerer getting off on telling lies.

Of course we should close the borders. I can’t believe anyone is still allowed to fly!

Because it would have been economically disruptive

and at the - very early - date when this could still have stopped an epidemic,
almost everyone was saying "it's only flu"

I would have taken over some hotels and put them in some kind of makeshift quarantine place
Yes it’s not ideal and it’s extreme but less extreme than what’s happening now

But that’s what I thought until blue zoo made me think differently about it

Trump didn't ban flights because of COVID - it was just another tactic in his trade war with China

He was calling COVID a "hoax" not so long ago
and now says it is not serious enough to justify continuing the containment measures,
so he wants to restart the US economy - to improve his election chances in November

The way I see it is the virus had already started to spread before it was even identified. Stopping all travel as soon as it was identified would be a closing the stable door after the horse had bolted thing.
As I know it, the time frame was 31/12/19: a group of people with pneumonia with an unknown cause was identified and alerted to WHO, 07/01/20: the virus was identified as the novel type coronavirus, 13/01/20: first case was reported in Thailand. So from early on it had already left China. The USA had their first case on 20/01/20 from someone that had returned from Wuhan on the 15th. No one knew how bad this was going to be until it started to develop. Everyone is guessing with it. We couldn't stop travelling after every single new novel virus is discovered.

Trump actually banned flights from China early on and got roundly criticized for it, even the WHO called it premature ... turns out it was the right thing to do shockingly

I’m not sure if this is sarcasm. The WHO says US will be the next pandemic hotspot after Italy.