Quote from: figmentofmyass on April 06, 2020, 08:28:51 PM

the point is the WHO and all western governments were well aware the pandemic risks in january and did absolutely nothing for 2+ months.

they were doing nothing to stockpile medical supplies or build ICU centers <...>

if you believe that a governement, any govt (US, Italy, Iran, Italy, Canada, etc) was going to stock up on supplies, and build ICU centers and field hospitals because of something that was happening in some asian countries, I have a bridge to sell you...Literally nothing (as in, no major stuff like in China) was happening in those countries that would warrant entering such state of alarm in January.

Obviously, they paid the ultimate price as they have more deaths/cases than in those countries in Asia, and I agree with you, they should've been more prepared (talking about the 1st world countries), but that's how they operate (or used to operate): evaluate the situation (like data) in your home country and then react.

Quote from: figmentofmyass on April 06, 2020, 09:24:25 PM

south korea and taiwan curbed their outbreaks despite this supposed lack of data. now the USA will have a 1000x worse death toll than south korea. why?

It's obvious that they were going to react quicker to whatever that was going down in China: they're right next door. Plus, population SK is 51 million people, Taiwan has 23 million, USA have 330 million...Just sayin'.

Quote from: figmentofmyass on April 06, 2020, 09:24:25 PM

did trump really need to downplay the seriousness of the pandemic.

Was Trump the only one who downplayed the whole situation? Reminder that there's a guy called Anthony Fauci, probably THE expert in infectious diseases in the USA. The guy has been the director of the NIAID for more than 35 years which means he's "served" under 6 presidential administrations and has seen many pandemics and diseases.

Maybe, just maybe, he could've said something earlier, you know? Something to warn the US citizens about the possibi...Oh wait, didn't he say back in February that you could go on with your daily activities as usual? https://www.today.com/video/dr-fauci-on-coronavirus-fears-no-need-to-change-lifestyle-yet-79684677616
(jump to 2:40 min)
So, who downplay the coronavirus pandemic? Just Trump? The guy follows a script whenever he talks, his people prolly asked Fauci and the CDC and they all agreed that this was going away very soon or it wasn't going to get serious. No, really, I know a lot of people want to blame trump for literally everything, but there are far bigger responsibles for what's happening right now.

Quote from: figmentofmyass on April 06, 2020, 09:24:25 PM

but did they really need to wait 2 weeks to even place basic travel restrictions from china (while still letting tens of thousands through anyway)? did they really need to wait 2 months before restricting other travelers from epidemic-hit countries? did they really need to misinform people about the efficacy of masks? did they really need to wait this long to start procuring PPE?

I mean, if the leading expert in infectious diseases said what he said on national tv, in late February, I can infer that he said the same thing to Trump and his people which made the orange man, and possibly every other health institution under the Health Department, downplay the whole situation by saying that "everything was going to be fine".

Quote from: plast555 on Today at 01:36:06 AM

Quote from: fabiorem on April 05, 2020, 04:20:55 PM

<...>

What are you talking? <...>

lol just ignore him, that's what I did.