Earlier quoted context omitted.
> debilitating economic cost citation needed. Their internal economy works normally, they never had any lockdown. Far lower impact than those states that just let the virus go rampant every couple of months, followed by months of lockdown. And yes, you could eradicate with this strategy, if enough places would adopt it and work together. I'd imagine a list of trusted covid free countries that can reintroduce bilatera…
> they never had any lockdown ...and that's largely irrelevant in a tiny country whose economy is mostly making stuff for the west. As I said, they've stopped essentially all international travel. They've benefitted from the US-China trade war, and have been able to boost exports: https://www.wsj.com/articles/taiwan-shrugs-off-pandemic-to-d... > Taiwanese manufacturers have been relocating back home from China over t…
Michael Mina has a much different idea: Cheap mass testing at home, regularly, for the whole family. Even with less sensitive quick tests it should be possible to suppress ~50% of new transmissions this way, which could bring case numbers down to traceable levels in 1-2 months. The key would be cost and availability of these tests - that's a problem that can be solved, as production is simple and is already currently costed at $1 a pop. From a regulatory standpoint it should be treated more like toothpaste and less like a medical good (i.e. certify the efficacy but don't go overboard).
After all else has pretty much failed, all western governments are now just betting on the vaccine. This is a dangerous proposition - all you need is a resistant mutation and we're back at square one. Plus, vaccination at current rate will take 1-2 years - I don't think that's a good place to be in both in health terms and economically. There needs to be a backup plan put in place, as well as lessons learned taken for the next pandemic.