tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post8991602989562942241..comments2024-03-18T15:42:43.140+13:00Comments on Offsetting Behaviour: Quarantine and the StateEric Cramptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15831696523324469713noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-44783937753012521502010-05-25T15:26:32.544+12:002010-05-25T15:26:32.544+12:00@Eric I agree entirely, I wasn't suggesting th...@Eric I agree entirely, I wasn't suggesting that health officials acted correctly. I confess to not taking H1N1 terribly seriously either at the time, it was after all just another flu, and there seemed to be a bit of paranoia and wolf-crying going on. Much like I imagine the health ministry did, I assumed the deaths in Mexico were due to overcrowding, poor nutrition and otherwise compromised immune systems among the slum dwellers. Luckily for us the virus seemed to lose a lot of its vigour by the time it got here. It was still highly contagious, but caused relatively few deaths.Latsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-81702018315557129372010-05-25T13:44:25.484+12:002010-05-25T13:44:25.484+12:00@Lats: Quarantine only works if it's done very...@Lats: Quarantine only works if it's done very quickly; initial reports out of Mexico were very scary. I can buy that we do better by having an agency that underreacts rather than overreacts since most scares are just scares, but the telling bit in MacDoctor's report is how things ramped up only AFTER we saw it wasn't going to be a really big deal.Eric Cramptonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15831696523324469713noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-58000055668566829992010-05-25T13:07:14.542+12:002010-05-25T13:07:14.542+12:00If you throw bureaucrats at any problem they will ...If you throw bureaucrats at any problem they will find a reason to vacillate until it is impossible to do otherwise. I can imagine with H1N1 that they were faced with the choice of either:<br />a) doing nothing and risking a chance of some people getting sick (and annoyed by lack of response), or<br />b) quarantining folk arriving from Mexico/US with 100% certainty people getting pissed off.<br />From a bureaucratic mindset it seems a pretty easy choice, always go with the option that results in less immediate consequences, or where the decision can be fobbed off to someone else.<br />Hindsight suggests that a more rigorous approach may have been appropriate, but it seems perhaps issues of public health took a back seat to more personal concerns...?Latsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-39051349542432689352010-05-24T20:56:03.678+12:002010-05-24T20:56:03.678+12:00@Doc: Road interconnection always seemed a weak ar...@Doc: Road interconnection always seemed a weak argument. I could buy quarantine though.Eric Cramptonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15831696523324469713noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-92149189031827693182010-05-24T19:44:36.058+12:002010-05-24T19:44:36.058+12:00The state hasn't effectively used quarantine i...The state hasn't effectively used quarantine in years. And interconnectedness of roads could be handled by a voluntary non-governmental standards body the same way the interconnectedness of the internet is.Doc Merlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13615897698740661539noreply@blogger.com