The long-term ’expert’ view of the pandemic right now is to just have round after round of social distancing as outbreaks keep happening, until there’s enough immunity or a vaccine. This article explains it. technologyreview.com/s/615370/coron…
Liberal assumptions are baked into all these pandemic models. Everything is voluntary and they include ‘compliance’ in their models (say, 70%). They don’t factor in the possibility of isolating people outside their homes, separated from the general population, etc.
The ’experts‘ assume the borders will remain open and flights will continue and if they consider screening, they assume only something very basic, like temperature screening, not mandatory quarantines, testing, etc.
Your life is going to be turned upside down, possibly for years to come, with much unnecessary suffering, not because containment is ‘impossible’, but because it’s impossible using the measures liberal democracies are willing to approve (and they’re not willing to approve much).
One possible future: Since the West, with its commitment to liberal values, is stuck doing on and off social distancing, it’ll have to further specialize in the ‘virtual’ or ‘intangible’ and leave the ‘tangible’ to those countries willing to impose ‘draconian’ measures.
