And Texas Caves In

westernrvparkowner wrote:
Extreme social distancing may not be as effective as advertised. Take a look at two states that took different approaches, California and Texas. California was one of the first states to take aggressive social distancing measures. Texas was one of the last, and to date has taken a more lax approach to both rules and enforcement. Both states are among the most populous, have large, international cities and have long stretches of an international border as well as a major maritime industry leading to much transient international travel. California has a population of nearly 40 million and Texas about 30 million. To date California has 20,191 confirmed cases and Texas has 11,329. That means one out of every 1981 Californians were infected, yet only one out of every 2648 Texans suffered the same fate despite not having statewide stay at home orders.
Perhaps the right approach to reopening the country is to trust the citizens to do the right thing. If people behave responsibly, take rational steps to protect themselves if they are not sick and isolate themselves if they do become infected much of the country can begin to return to a resemblance of normal very soon. I think most people have a good idea of what they should do. I doubt many people are going to start flocking to concerts, jamming the cruise lines, filling airplanes and immediately restart shaking hands and hugging strangers because restrictions are lifted. While targeted quarantines may be needed for a while, vast areas of the country can start recovering very soon if we put a bit of trust in the people.

How can you compare the number of cases in 2 states without knowing how many, or at least what percentage of the populations have been tested. As long as we are only testing sick people, many of the test will be positive. Medical personal should be sampled every day. Other necessary workers maybe a couple times a week. Once we have a handle on how many of them are infected, we can start testing and letting out the lawyers, bankers, and other unnecessary workers.