Quarantine does not solve the problem. Apparently people are contagious even before they have symptoms.

Experience aboard the Diamond Princess suggests that this virus can spread airborne. Not just from contact spewed from an infected person. But this is an even greater problem. How the contagious spread this virus is either unknown or is being withheld by top government officials (ie Pence). That is his job. Obstruct information - to protect the administration.

We should have known long ago (had government started addressing the problem over two months ago) how this virus spreads, how long it can survive on surfaces (or if airborne), if it can pass through the skin, and how long a person can be contagious before symptoms appear.

Instead we have White House lies that a vaccine will soon be available. Reality - it cannot be available til at least next year. Lies that the public does not need facemasks. Lies because this president is more concerned with his reelection than in addressing any problem. He ignored it until the stock market eventually crashed. And we still do not have answers to those four questions.

Surely there are trustworthy governments elsewhere in the first world that are studying this thing. What do they have to say? Germany isn't corrupt, is it? Canada? France? What do their health departments say?

How'd that work out in Japan?

Japan shut their schools down, asked for a 2 meter distance between people as much as possible, and said that sick people wear masks, not healthy people.

I say do all that plus bleach every doorknob in the plant every day before lunch.

You're correct. These are the most important pieces of information that are required.

And we're not going to find out, at least not through the US government, because all Trump can do is worry about "how it makes him look," and Pence is only good for prayer breakfasts.

Thank goodness Congress allocated millions to the CDC in December

...to study gun control

They also study cancer and mental illness.

But yes, that is more the bailiwick of BATF.

The VA is recommending that veterans best response to Covid-19 is to get a flu shot.

Getting a flu shot is never a bad idea, but it is pretty much useless against the coronavirus.

I don't think that the BATF does health effect studies, it's a law enforcement agency. If we're going strictly on name-of-agency criticisms, NIH might be a better match, just because it doesn't specifically have the word "disease" in its name.

Obviously, we will know that concern for the virus overrides concern for Trump when the media is busy sharing information about it, instead of sharing information about Trump.

And the same is true for us, in this forum

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019...infection.html

If you are hearing about Trump duing COVID-19 news reports, you will know you are being under served by a media which used to be all about sharing important information, and is now entirely about politics, and will not inform you of the facts you need to know.

Instead? There is only concern for the virus when Trump's management of the US response is completely ignored?

I was going to rewrite to benefit your quibble, but I'm betting my point has been made.

History will tell us whether the flu, or panic over it, is a bigger problem. If history says flu, the Pres has been terrible. If history says panic, the Pres has been on point.

Place your bets

President's authorized doctor says it only last but a few hours. Which is it? Hours or days? If Trump has a Czar (who known nothing about medicine or emergency response) who is suppose to keep us informed with honest facts, then where are those facts?

UT, when will you stick to honest facts and not routinely post your irrelevant emotions? You are not the same person I knew some thirty years ago. Back then, UT would not be wasting bandwidth with words such as quibble. Meanwhile, as usual, I expect more quibble from you. It is becoming routine from a UT that went right wing extremist.

Reasons this 'flu' are different. It is much more contagious. And has a higher death rate. Apparently because infected people (as with Typhoid Mary) do not even know they are infecting their peers. Apparently do not have symptoms when first sick.

We don't really know why this virus is so more contagious. Facts (honesty) are in short supply. Combined with a president who also takes cheapshots at, for example, the Grand Princess.

So, we'll have to agree on levels of deaths vs levels of panic, does anyone want to weigh in on the number of deaths that would be worse than panic so far?

Starting point: flu kills 27-70,000 in US per year