I am sorry if some of this is already said, however i am not reading 65 pages of posts.
I am sitting in one of the few places in the world where our cases are in single digits and the virus hasn't established itself in our community.
In addition, as it happens, my main work is related to bacteria eradication and public health issues. And as a helpful looking glass I have lived/worked in several other countries and states.
I think this mix of experiences gives me a unique perspective.
The observations I have made is:
- Isolation is our friend. I read somewhere we are the most isolated capitol city in the world
- Boring is our friend. I regularly read that we don't get many tourists as we are kind of boring...and to be honest I think that may be true to some views.
- Conservative and generally co-operative population
- Political leader who is plain speaking and keeps the message on point
I have been monitoring the actual data, not what the press would have us believe, but the actual data in our state. In looking back as far back as 22nd of March the data was showing we had very low if any community spread. However we didn't lock down till 27th of March. By the 2nd of April the numbers were dropping through the floor, and this has continued.
In contrast other parts of the country have gone the reverse. In comparison part of the reason is the conservative population. About the 12th of March I held a staff meeting. I suggested I was concerned with where this COVID thing was going and I asked my staff to consider not going to gyms and other facilities where they used shared surfaces or equipment. I expected a bit of support and a lot of grumbling. I was surprised to find all my under 30's staff supporting this. I think this alone speaks to our generally conservative population. In other countries, I have been in I am fairly certain I would have got a lot more 'lip' about this and the attitude would be one of 'what do you know'?
Coronavirus is tricky. We have not defeated it previously and it has been with us for a long time. This particular one is nastier than the more common cold. It is interesting to read the vaccination studies and heartening to read some as they are suggesting some potential to work.
The Spanish Flu died out, (broadly assuming) it had infected so many and the community built a combination of resistance and management to handle it, leaving it nowhere to replicate. Perhaps this may happen, one can only hope.
I am optimistic one way or another this situation will be resolved. To a certain extent it simply must. Whether that is by eradication of the actual virus, drugs to treat the infected, a vaccine for the population or adapting to live with this thing, I am unclear. Humans live with Flu and that kills a lot of people. I think malaria kills more people (in a year) than this thing has, last I checked, and we don't fuss about that. To a certain extent the coverage by media of this is disproportional to the actual issues. Its a little like watching a shark feeding frenzy as the press pumps out doom and gloom on an hourly basis. I wont go into press on this post, however, I do not believe a single news item in mainstream media, a lot of the time the statements are 'perhaps extreme' or 'isolated views'.
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