The WHO disagrees: https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-...
> "Test everyone!" To what end? You don't need to test people in order to know if they need an ICU. The ICUs are not full - and you don't need more testing to tell you that. The main benefit to more testing would be that people who are self-quarantining due to potential exposure could maybe stop self-quarantining earlier. That's a fairly marginal benefit.
Germany was ahead of the curve testing people and as a result (so far) they are weathering the virus much better than most other countries (including the US):
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-03-10/german...
It's not all about the testing for them but in the article they do count it as a key reason why they are doing well so far.
Germany apparently has 10 people in serious condition. Availability of resources obviously isn’t a factor...
You underestimate human stupidity :) People self-quarantaing is a sign of great awarenes of the danger. Meanwhile there are millions of people who ignore symptoms because "it's just a common flu, not coronavirus, don't be paranoid". Testing everyone would help identify and quarantaine those people (against their will, if necessary).
Otherwise politicians can hide behind relatively low numbers of confirmed cases as an excuse for inaction.
Question 1) Is the spread inevitable, or can we achieve containment?
Question 2) If it can't be contained, and worldwide spread is inevitable, approximately how many new cases per day do you want to see for the next 6 months?
I would say the answer to #1 is that spread is absolutely inevitable. There are way too many vectors, and it is way too virulent. I'd go further and say that I believe tens if not hundreds of millions of people have already been infected and will never have serious illness, but such a claim is really besides the point.
I would say the answer to #2 is; just so many as you don't run out of ventilators. And absolutely start setting up rows of ventilators in dedicated facilities in major cities.
So to those saying we should have done more, sooner... I ask, to what end? Follow through on the hypothetical "done more sooner" scenario. Worldometer says the US has 1,518 active cases, of which 10 are serious. So 10 people in the country are in an ICU for COVID-19 right now?
"Test everyone!" To what end? You don't need to test people in order to know if they need an ICU. The ICUs are not full - and you don't need more testing to tell you that. The main benefit to more testing would be that people who are self-quarantining due to potential exposure could maybe stop self-quarantining earlier. That's a fairly marginal benefit.
This isn't a situation where the world is going to shut down until a vaccine is available and administered to a billion people. This is a situation where the vast majority of people have mild symptoms, then herd immunity, and then will very much need to get back to work in order to buy groceries and pay their mortgage.