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A comment on How the World’s Richest Country Ran Out of Face Masks. Parent comment

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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