Or not.

"One has a feeling that many pubic officials failed to envision or evolve a reopening that was not, on the face of it, an appeasement to the demands of the business community."

Bring back the copy-editors!

@2 or if the whole world had quarantined China last November, it would have been nipped in the bud even better. Why would anyone have done that, though?

@4 (and @2) Closing China's borders would have 1) brought the global economy to a halt, and 2) failed to stop the spread of SARS-COV-2, because every "closed" border in the world has people ignoring the closure and moving across it.

Closing borders has never stopped the spread of diseases, not even back in the days when cities had walls.

You've got a typo in both of the last two paragraphs: "Pubic health officials"
I'm afraid autocorrect is trained a bit too well.

And I was going to go to Phoenix in June
hahahahaha-yikes!

"At some point, the US government will have to stuff its ears with wax to confront and properly defeat COVID-19."

It'll have to do that if it wants to confront and properly defeat COVID-19. But it could also just ignore the whole thing. In Florida, they are systematically shutting down all the mechanisms for gathering statistics on the spread of the disease.

The strong do what they will, the weak endure what they must.

@5, this is a profoundly stupid statement. I'm pointing this out not to call you out or anything but just to observe how, so often, conventional wisdom and prevailing reasonableness from all sides of the political and policy spectrum have so frequently been laid bare by this coronavirus. Even experts like Tony Fauci and Ezekiel Emanuel have repeatedly been made to look foolish, although God knows it's not so hard with Dr. Zeke.

Anyway, I'm glad to see that Jay Inslee is listening to me. Yesterday morning, I posted (https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2020/06/22/43952215/slog-am-another-shooting-at-chop-terrifying-new-covid-numbers-and-crossfit-can-shove-it/comments/1):
"I caught Dow Constantine on KUOW last week giving a mealy-mouthed, pass-the-buck answer to a question as to why King County wasn't mandating masks. Rather than be reactive, I think Jay Inslee has to get out ahead of this situation and extend the masks mandate statewide. It seems like we as Americans and even Washingtonians have forgotten the basic idea that 'An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,' and now our elected officials and public health officials have to walk around in abject fear of our collective stupidity."

Now we see this breaking news, "Inslee orders face coverings to be worn in public to help stem spread of coronavirus:"
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/inslee-orders-face-coverings-to-be-worn-in-public-to-help-stem-spread-of-coronavirus/

Disclaimer. No, I don't believe Jay Inslee is reading these comments threads. Let's hope not!

Fun fact: asymptomatic carriers, mostly young people, will be the primary vectors, and Charles is correct..

"Two months ago, I predicted this day would come."

Two months ago, you seemed woefully ignorant of Inslee's ability to restrict interestate travel. That's still the case today.

@2 - only if they'd cut off all travel in from other countries too..... Much of the spread in the US, especially on the east coast initially came from the European outbreaks....

I worry more that we've sacrificed all this time for really nothing.... we're barely back to where we started when we first went on lockdown and the governor admitted that we're reopening businesses not because it didn't work to slow the spread (it did) or that we've defeated the infection (we most certainly have not) - but because people are sick of being cooped up and want things to reopen - so masks will be the "replacement" for shutdown - his words not mine.....

I work in health care - if you ask me, masks are good, they help - they let you go to the grocery store without a huge amount of trepidation BUT - they aren't the end all and be all and we should still all be staying away from each other as much as humanly possible still - especially when there are so many people resistant to using a mask or who simply wear them incorrectly - yes, I'm talking to you dude with the mask pulled down under your nose and miss with the mask dangling from one ear and you fella with the mask around your neck and you ma'am who just can't stop touching and adjusting your mask (awesome now your hands are all contaminated....). As I feel the risk is simply too great for me to have been exposed and be a potential spreader, I get the feeling it will be a rather loooooooong time before I enjoy a drink or a meal out again or even go back to my habit of daily grocery shopping.

Where do you get 40 flights? I count about 25, including cargo flights and a few that haven't flown in weeks.

So the obvious question is: can't we check people as they get off the plane from Phoenix?

A temperature check bare minimum, maybe grab a cheek swab to test, too. We might even be able to insist that they all stay in quarantine until the results come back negative...

@15 You could request, but you can't insist.

Maybe the state legislature could pass a law making it a felony to be infected. Then, n.p.

@5 No data on border closures there, I see. No studies of border closures linked. Because border closures don't stop infectious diseases.

You do go on about masks, though. I'm not sure why. Masks are cheap, and a minor inconvenience at worst. There are a few studies showing that they do reduce transmission in some circumstances, so ordering masks seems like an entirely sensible measure.

Er, @9 that is. Bleah.

robotslave @17, sorry, I don't feel like descending down the rabbit hole with you. I'm sure you can come up with some impressive and facile arguments why border closures are useless. I just wanted to remark about how idiotic this view was--and how typical this idiocy was in the face of COVID-19--without really making a point of YOU being an idiot.

@19 Mmm hmm. Didn't think so. You don't have a shred of evidence to support the idea, heavily promoted by Trump, that border closures stop diseases from spreading.

Look, you didn't realize my initial comment was meant narrowly, you assumed I was The Enemy, and you fired off your whole arsenal at once.

You goofed. It's fine, everyone goofs.

robotslave, you've done a wonderful job of putting me in my place, just as I'm sure you'd do a wonderful job of destroying the idea that border closures are effective in stemming the spread of COVID-19.

As impressed as I am by your debating skills, I'm even more impressed by the stupidity of that comment of yours @5 and really how widely shared that view is. Among other such views about COVID-19.

"... it seems the only action that can stop the spread of the virus effectively is one that's totally indifferent to the cries of the business community. At some point, the US government will have to stuff its ears with wax to confront and properly defeat COVID-19."

"The 'Business' of America
IS Business" --Reptilican mantra

Because making Profits
supersedes Wisdom.

Fascism
trumps
YOU.

This is the kind of xenophobia - fear of outsiders, or "auslanders" - that led to pogroms from the time of the plague to the 19th and 20th centuries. It is a very dangerous mode of thinking that until now was limited to crimson-red vacation destinations. Don't make this mistake Seattle. Auslanders are not dangerous. They are people, and citizens, and they have every much right to be in "your" city as you do.

Or... do we ultimately impose a restriction on travel coming from such places, thereby weakening the Union... and increasing the probability of... Cascadia!

Your message is on point, CM. NY, NJ and CT have imposed 14-day quarantines on air travelers from states with high infection rates--reducing airline stock values. So sad.

Mudede, dear man--it occurs to me that the two things for which COVID19 are non-lethal are non-human life . . . and money. Curious!

I'm more worried about people driving over from Yakima.

Weeks of social-distancing-ignoring demonstrations will do more to spread the virus than a few people flying in from Arizona.