Humanity tested | Nature Biomedical Engineering
▻https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-020-0553-6#Fig1
How did we end up here? Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly. Ernest Hemingway’s passage is a fitting description for humanity’s perception of the exponential growth of COVID-19 cases and deaths (Fig. 1). The worldwide spread of a highly infectious pathogen was only a matter of time, as long warned by many epidemiologists, public health experts, and influential and prominent voices, such as Bill Gates. Yet most of the world was unprepared for such a pandemic; in fact, most Western countries (prominently the United States1) fumbled their response for weeks. Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan have shown the world that, to contain the propagation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), governments need to quickly implement aggressive testing (by detecting the viral RNA through polymerase chain reaction (PCR)), the isolation of those infected and the tracing and quarantining of their contacts, while educating their citizens about the need for physical distancing and basic public health measures (in particular, frequent hand-washing and staying at home if feeling unwell). When outbreaks are not detected and acted upon sufficiently early, drastic physical distancing — of the sort implemented by China at the end of January and maintained for months — can eventually suppress the outbreak (Fig. 1). It is however unclear whether Western countries that have implemented strict physical-distancing measures later in their infection curve will be able to gradually release such lockdowns, let alone see their outbreaks controlled.
