Yes, civilization would have largely survived a partial and temporary collapse of the US healthcare system that was a potential outcome from covid.
There were multiple countries where the medical system came close to collapse. India in 2021 is a case study of a medical system pushed beyond its limits (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/28/world/asia/india-coronavi...) and civilization largely continued.
But there is a lot of latitude between normal and survived.
Let’s assume that US policymakers considered taking no-action and let the ICUs collapse. Could policymakers in that scenario reasonably expect that teachers would continue to teach? Would the school system function if 20% of school teachers decided to not risk death and opted out?
That answer was easy to get and the answer was that schools would be shutting down.
How many essential workers would opt-out? How many need to drop-out to care for children? How many because they are sick? For how long? How does that impact fuel and food distribution?
Can we expect crowds would gather at hospitals? How many in that case become violent? How do we control crowds? Do we call in the national guard?
I’m not sure I can see any scenario that a policymaker could consider where reducing spread wasn’t the only viable option.
There were multiple countries where the medical system came close to collapse. India in 2021 is a case study of a medical system pushed beyond its limits (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/28/world/asia/india-coronavi...) and civilization largely continued.
But there is a lot of latitude between normal and survived.
Let’s assume that US policymakers considered taking no-action and let the ICUs collapse. Could policymakers in that scenario reasonably expect that teachers would continue to teach? Would the school system function if 20% of school teachers decided to not risk death and opted out?
That answer was easy to get and the answer was that schools would be shutting down.
How many essential workers would opt-out? How many need to drop-out to care for children? How many because they are sick? For how long? How does that impact fuel and food distribution?
Can we expect crowds would gather at hospitals? How many in that case become violent? How do we control crowds? Do we call in the national guard?
I’m not sure I can see any scenario that a policymaker could consider where reducing spread wasn’t the only viable option.