I prefer to err on the side of caution. There seem to be a lot of things, that don't seem to be taken into consideration. When this virus first broke out, no one had seen it before. The process to identify it, is quite involved.
Because it's uncertain how infectious the virus is, only certain labs worldwide, are able to handle the sample(s) containing the virus. Please note too, that viruses are way too small to be seen under a regular microscope. They require special microscopes, meaning there will be fewer of them available. First they compare it to all known viruses. When it's new, there is no response to it being a know virus. The next step involves genetic sequencing. Sequencing is done, which can produce results in as little as 48 hours, or take much longer. When it's finally identified, the information is uploaded into various databases. Next, testing begins to see if any known antibiotics (antibiotics rarely work on viruses), or antivirals make an impact on it, and learning all the ways it's transmitted. This can take from several weeks, to significantly longer. Too, there is the possibility that no known medications, are effective against it.
There is still no rapid test to identify this virus. Labs qualified to make a diagnosis, get overwhelmed, and only so many can be done, working around the clock, 24/7. Results are not instant.
Suddenly, every person in the country with a cough, sniffles, or whatever, is rushing to the hospital. There were approximately 9 million people, in Wuhan province alone. Not only are the doctors, and hospitals overwhelmed, but in the beginning, there was no way to accurately know which of them were actually infected with the new virus. Testing positive for another type virus, does not eliminate them from having both viruses. Of course the hospitals were overwhelmed.
In addition to all this, there are protocols in place, on how to deal with a suspected major outbreak, of a new contagion. Yes, in the event it ever happens here, we too, will follow these protocols.
Before you are too quick to judge their handling of the situation, please remember there is NO known medication that will help prevent, or work against this virus, once a person has it. There is nothing to do, at this point, but let it run it's course. The multiple videos of people complaining they are not getting any medicine to help, are pointless. There is no known medicine that will help. Quarantine is one of the protocols, and is effective enough that it's worth doing. In the majority of instances, family members can help care for those that are sick in their family, while the virus runs it's course.
You think nothing like that could happen here?
1. How long do you have to sit in the waiting room before seeing your doctor?
2. Does your doctor take blood samples, or send you to a lab for bloodwork?
For the most part, it's fairly risky, and pointless to go to your doctor in THIS particular situation. Like in China, even if you finally do get diagnosed, there is no treatment yet available, so there is nothing your doctor can do for you.
1. How many hospitals are in your immediate area?
2. When you went in with a problem, after being checked in, what was the wait time, before they began assessing you?
3. After being assessed, how long until you were put in an ER unit?
4. Did you ever see any patients on gurneys in the hall, waiting for an ER unit, or for treatment, or a hospital bed?
5. Once diagnosed, if you required a hospital stay, how long did you wait to be put in a room?
6. How many patients, do you think they could accommodate, pushing beyond maximum capacity?
Do you think this would be sufficient, if an extra 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 people suddenly began showing up over the course of 14 days?
Even in our country, under the same, or very similar conditions, our hospitals could quickly become overwhelmed, and would probably begin turning people away eventually, except for those that were treat, and release, those scheduled for surgery, and those that had secondary reasons for being there.
IF, they had to initiate a major quarantine here in the US, do you think it wouldn't be similar to what they're doing there?
