Why some governments appear not to be acting on the Covid-19 threat

Post by pfdietz » Thu, Mar 12, 2020, 1:10 PM UTC

newsbinator wrote: post #201

tomp wrote: post #31

I think it's a different reason. Let's analyze the outcomes from game theory perspective, along two dimensions: virus becomes pandemic or not, and governments do something or nothing. 1) no pandemic, no action -> government was "right", avoided wasting money -> reelected 2) no pandemic, action -> government was "wrong", wasted a lot of money, damaged the economy, inconvenienced the lives of the population -> voted ou…

Even supposing politicians all act 100% selfishly, they'd still want to do everything possible to mitigate the effects of the pandemic: for themselves and their own families, even if for nobody else.

Post by dx034 » Thu, Mar 12, 2020, 1:12 PM UTC

olau wrote: post #122

lm28469 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also depends on the country's government. Afaik in Germany the country's government can't force schools to close or public events to be cancelled. These decisions have to be taken locally (at state/city or even district level). All the health ministry can do is tell people "you shouldn't do A B C and you should do X Y Z"

No, that's not the real reason. In the places where they have shut down schools, they can't really do it either. But when government says "do X" and has good reasons, the institutions comply. I'm in the board of a private institution in a country with a shutdown order, and there was really no discussion between the board members that this institution would shut down too, despite there being no legal backing at all.

Post by dx034 » Thu, Mar 12, 2020, 1:13 PM UTC

imustbeevil wrote: post #163

rcMgD2BwE72F wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Denmark did close every school and most administrations. France did not. Many decisions can be taken, but are not (for various reasons). Most experts recommend to limit contacts rather than closing down borders, and no one is pretending to stop the virus but they all should try to flatten the curve. You don't seem to pay attention to the current situation.

France has 11x Denmark's population and 4x it's confirmed cases, so it seems like doing nothing worked better.

Post by michaelt » Thu, Mar 12, 2020, 1:14 PM UTC

dboreham wrote: post #196

rsynnott wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s a lot that governments can do. Ireland just closed schools and universities, and banned large indoor gatherings, for instance, and directed companies to make work from home available where possible (though this last one is really more a suggestion). This won’t get rid of the virus, but it may help to slow it and thus reduce deaths. Closing borders, certainly at this point, seems largely futile.

>banned large indoor gatherings I've read (true, who knows?) that in the USA this isn't legally possible. Federal government doesn't have that power. This may be behind Trump's move to stop flights only to Europe, and not domestic flights. He has the power to do the former but not the latter, apparently.

Post by dx034 » Thu, Mar 12, 2020, 1:14 PM UTC

A-Train wrote: post #40

lazyier wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it's not. It's just one guy making up random shit on a blog and is pretending that governments think like him. The reality is probably closer to the fact that there isn't anything governments can do about it. They can try to shut down the borders of the country, but that is going to a lot worse and probably won't stop it anyways. Just because governments can do something and do do something doesn't mean that that…

What? There is tons of stuff governments can do to flatten the curve. Educating people, closing schools, people gatherings, obligatory masks for all (or DIY bandanas), testing more.