Re:U.S. field hospitals stand down, most without treating an...
by unishark on Saturday May 09, 2020 @06:26AM
(#23123558)
> There were forecasts of doom, so we did something about it, so then there was no doom. That doesn't mean the original alarm bells weren't justified.
The field hospitals were built at roughly the same time the lockdowns started. You seem to be saying the decision to build them should be made independently of doing anything else.
But I generally agree with your sentiment about hindsight and acting conservatively. Though that includes knowing what the conservative option even is. Do we also burn money and spray disinfectant on the streets? Are we manufacturing a recession for nothing?
It's like the Y2k bug. There were forecasts of doom, so we did something about it, so then there was no doom. That doesn't mean the original alarm bells weren't justified.
Framing the situation as we were right or wrong is weird though. No one has a time machine to go and come back with the truth, as if someone knew exactly how this would play out but was keeping it a secret.
It was a total mystery 3 months ago. We're only barely starting to tease it apart now. Given that, the conservative option, the choice that kills the fewest people, is what we did.
We could have avoided overshooting if we'd known 3 months ago what we know now. The problem is we didn't have knowledge from the future. 3 months ago it was clear this would have an extreme impact, economically.
What would you have done differently, given what we didn't know back then? (Also keeping in mind we still don't know all that much about this disease.)