First, let's all admit some things to ourselves no matter where we are on the political spectrum.
A lot of other countries, like South Korea, New Zealand, Japan, did the kinds of things WE USED to do during pandemics.
Second, countries like South Korea are NOT as different from us as some think because they have dozens of very large and densely populated major cities just like ours.
Third, WE TAUGHT these countries a lot of what they do because we used to be participants in global coordinating efforts on issues like pandemics and other emergency preparedness.
Fourth, none of the countries that are handling this better ever LIED to their people about it, or sloughed off responsibility to the provinces or states, they did a NATIONAL response, a UNIFORM NATIONAL response.
TESTING on a national level, everyone gets tested for FREE. CONTACT TRACING on a national level, everyone gets contact traced for epidemiological purposes.
But most important, now that we've dragged our feet and split ourselves into warring factions by politicizing a virus, some of what would be proposed at this late stage will not work anymore. Some of what we want to do would have worked EARLY ON, like in the first few weeks.
But this much I can say is likely to happen:
1. A NATIONAL RESPONSE.
Putting the Defense Production Act into action in earnest, not for vents but for things like gloves, masks, alcohol and other sanitizers. Don't be surprised if we see a move to providing every single person in this country with a supply for the duration.
2. Consistent reliance on science, from the best epidemiological experts in the country, and in the world.
EXAMPLE: In order to avoid doing national lockdowns on the economy, guess what we can use
(which we haven't) to track hotspots and outbreaks? Sewers! Sewage contains ELEVATED levels of virus just prior to an outbreak.
By tracking sewage output we can focus the most resources on areas where an outbreak is being signaled.
3. Consistent enforcement in outbreak areas where hotspots have been detected. These areas MUST have citizen cooperation on masks, hand washing and social distancing. We enforced these things heavily in 1918 which is why we only lost 675 thousand compared to FIFTY MILLION to the Spanish Flu H1N1 pandemic of 1918.
675 thousand in a national population of 103 million is still high but we did not have vaccines, antiviral meds or much of the science we have now, but it is still a tiny fraction compared to fifty million.
They weren't kidding around about masks in 1918:
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Trump keeps talking about Operation Warp Speed but a lot of it has been just talk, and more lies.
I think that if we win enough in both POTUS and Congress, we will see some real effort behind the "talking" with regard to not just development but also with distribution. If we make these medications unaffordable, not enough people will get them, and I am not just talking about vaccines, I am also talking about antiviral medications.
4. I think we will see real moves to straightening out healthcare but with regard to the current situation, I think we will see aggressive action to marshall resources on a national level to help the medical community take an empowered stance on treating COVID patients.
5. Last but not least, I think we will see restored paycheck protection and help for small businesses.
Biden has consistently said over and over, that we will NOT get the economy back on track UNTIL WE HANDLE this pandemic to the best of our ability. If we don't, you can forget economic recovery, because the virus will just keep hitting us between the eyes again and again. It is not going to just "go away" all by itself.