It really didn't "grow unchecked for months".
>using our thinking machines.
OK. You first, then.
Here's the timeline.
Nov 17 - First known case of coronavirus
https://www.livescience.com/first-case-coronavirus-found.htm...
January 3 - Whistleblower Dr Li thrown in jail
"Li warned colleagues on social media in late December about a mysterious virus that would become the coronavirus epidemic and was detained by police in Wuhan on 3 January for “spreading false rumours”. He was forced to sign a police document to admit he had breached the law and had “seriously disrupted social order.”
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/feb/07/c...
Jan 18 - Annual Wuhan Lunar New Year banquet. Tens of thousands of people gathered for a potluck. (Hosted by the Mayor of Wuhan)
Jan 23 - Wuhan put on lockdown
https://www.axios.com/timeline-the-early-days-of-chinas-coro...
The research also found that if interventions in the country could have been conducted one week, two weeks, or three weeks earlier, cases could have been reduced by 66 percent, 86 percent and 95 percent respectively – significantly limiting the geographical spread of the disease
https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2020/03/covid-19-china.pa...
Looks like a couple months to me.
It reminds me of France:
March 15: French municipal elections (in all French cities)
March 16: General lockdown announced
Thanks for the response and links, but I basically regret this entire interaction and would rather leave the discussion here.
Unless the numbers are crap, then it makes total sense.
But the WHO disagrees, ah well, then I guess we should stop using our thinking machines.