How the World’s Richest Country Ran Out of Face Masks

Re:How the World’s Richest Country Ran Out of Face Masks by magicsmoke on Wednesday March 25, 2020 @12:19PM (#22686022)

The difference with those four countries is that they expect fighting a war on their own soil to be a future possibility. When's the last time Americans actually saw what war on their doorstep looks like? The civil war? America's real defense is the Pacific and Atlantic. The US military is a raiding force that's free to attack anywhere in the world without fear of retaliation because they know the American continent is geographically unassailable.

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Re:How the World’s Richest Country Ran Out of Face Masks by danans on Wednesday March 25, 2020 @12:27PM (#22686108)

> they know the American continent is geographically unassailable.

And COVID19 is turning that assumption on its head. The only question that remains is whether the US can buttress what's left of its public health institutions to keep it at bay, and prepare for the next wave that comes, whether of this pandemic or the next one.

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Re:How the World’s Richest Country Ran Out of Face Masks by ethbro on Wednesday March 25, 2020 @11:36PM (#22690610)

I don't remember a H1N1, SARS, or MERS outbreak in the US.

Borders are absolutely a defense, they're just not an absolute defense.

That SARS-CoV-2 was able to spread globally as a pandemic has more to do with its transmissibility and latency characteristics.

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Re:How the World’s Richest Country Ran Out of Face Masks by danans on Thursday March 26, 2020 @01:55PM (#22696099)

> That SARS-CoV-2 was able to spread globally as a pandemic has more to do with its transmissibility and latency characteristics.

Which is what proves that the US isn't unassailable from a pandemic. It would be a mistake to assume that SARS-CoV-2 or something with similar ability to breach geographical barriers won't occur again. Also, nature doesn't care about political entities, and a pandemic could also start in the US.

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Re:How the World’s Richest Country Ran Out of Face Masks by ethbro on Thursday March 26, 2020 @06:15PM (#22698526)

It isn't, but it would generally be a waste of resources to overprepare for something that has a low probability of happening. In the same way it would be to fortify both coasts.

Budgeting is a zero sum game.

Stockpiles of essential PPE, sure. Pervasive monitoring for early detection? Not worth it.

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Re:How the World’s Richest Country Ran Out of Face Masks by simonblack on Wednesday March 25, 2020 @08:53PM (#22689913)

they know the American continent is geographically unassailable.

That's 'magical thinking'.

No doubt the Japanese thought pretty much the same in 1942. That's why the Dolittle Bombing Raid on Tokyo was such a shock to their systems.

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Re:How the World’s Richest Country Ran Out of Face Masks by ethbro on Wednesday March 25, 2020 @11:31PM (#22690589)

The Doolittle Raid was military insignificant, and in no way should have altered Japan's belief that their home islands were geographically unassailable.

Even in 1945, with the Imperial Japanese Navy suppressed or destroyed and their supply chain in tatters, an invasion would have been incredibly costly.

Occupying enemy territory, across an ocean, with a large population of civilians disinclined to cooperate, is never easy.

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