Originally Posted by
cmtlatitudes
Clearly he not stupid, but I am confused by some of his statements. Last evening he was a guest on an ABC news show, "America This Week w/ Eric Bolling: 'Coronavirus - Plan Don't Panic'. In response to questions by Bolling, he blamed the current situation outside of China and South Korea, on Italy, that they did not confine travel. Wasn't Italy was actually the first EU nation to ban airline travel with China, days prior the US bans?
I think it's fair to say that the experts (i.e. people with experience in infectious diseases and global health) are just as much in the dark as anyone else as no-one has had any prior experience with COVID-19 and necessarily people have to speculate with their best "educated guess" on the evolution of this pandemic. And I think it is also fair to say that experts disagree with each other in certain respects.
However, this is not a bad thing. It is important that experts debate and challenge each others' views and there is not necessarily the "right" answer to a lot of the difficult questions coming up in recent weeks. For example, I disagree with the notion that we should be investing heavily in masks in Western countries but I may well be completely wrong on this - it's just my "best guess" based on the evidence I have interpreted but I could be wrong and am always willing to consider other views.