[mach5]

no one reading this is gonna 'swing to his side', the people aren't already trying to control the pandemic are already too hard-headed to even consider swinging, at least until them or their family members start dropping dead.

the implication that america is unable to respond to the pandemic because A Guy Was Mean in a Medium Post is ridiculous

[SpicyLemonZest]

Obviously it's not this specific guy's fault. But the undercurrent of meanness is something I've seen consistently. It seems to me that the public debate has generally been between "it's not a problem, those guys are just exaggerating it" and "we're doomed, those guys are too stupid to fix it", with the people trying to plot an effective course being mostly ignored. (How likely do you think it is that the author can point to specific proposals that should be implemented, rather than vaguely gesturing at masks and shutdowns?)

[mach5]

the latter is completely caused by the former, we are, in fact, doomed. the effective course was already ignored by those in power, months ago. now the outbreak is big enough in the south to be uncontrollable, contact tracing is worthless, testing is near worthless (7 day test turnaround!), anything other than a full extreme lockdown will not stop this, and that isn't happening.

[benjohnson]

How can we lock down? As I understand it, we can't even control our southern border.

[SpicyLemonZest]

Are you saying that all the states which are still trying to control it should stop, and reopen everything since control is impossible? I don't believe that and I don't get the impression you do either.

[mach5]

no, of course not, i'm saying that the political will to fix this isn't there, and to a point was never there, and we are now past the point of no return, thus this doomsaying like in the original post is bluntly and sadly correct.