Re: [Phys-L] Ex: Re: It's this simple ... isn't it?

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

On 4/6/20 5:53 PM, Albert J. Mallinckrodt wrote:

> I believe the U.S. (read largely, “New York”) still has a chance to
> bring it in at 30,000 to 40,000 deaths.

Sure, the physics says it's possible.
One of the IHME models says it's possible.
You don't need to convince me.

I was expressing a political judgment, not a physics calculation.

There's a set of steps that need to be implemented to achieve the
desired result.  So far none of them have been implemented properly
on a national scale.  Costly and crude approximations have been
implemented in a few jurisdictions, but unless they can pull up
the drawbridge and keep everybody else out, or unless everybody
else learns the lesson before it's too late, I don't see how they
can hold out.  It's like trying to defend one tree in a forest
fire.  It's possible, but difficult, expensive, and exhausting.

The only reasonable policy objective is to put out the whole
fire, all at once, nationwide.  I just don't see now that can
happen politically.  You would need about ten different people
to have a road-to-Damascus moment all at once, REAL SOON.