We just saw what would happen if there was an actual outbreak of a deadly disease. We had an outbreak of a not-as-deadly disease, and the government did the same things it would do if it WAS a deadly disease (huge mistake), and people lost their shit. If anything, an outbreak of an actual deadly disease will be WORSE now, because now almost NOBODY will comply with any kind of mitigation strategies.
Any chance of a cohesive community response to a pandemic - or any other legitimate threat - is gone now. There is too much distrust of our government. I posted this WAAAAY back in the early days of 2020, and I think it’s more true now than ever:
If a massive enemy army suddenly appeared on our shores, launching an invasion, and the government announced this via the media and attempted to mobilize the population, America would polarize into three groups:
One group would do whatever the government asked.
One group would refuse to believe that any invasion was happening, and would refuse to do anything or support the fight in any way.
One group of would assume that since our government said the invasion was bad, it must actually be good, and would seek to join the opposing side.
And thanks to the mess that the government made over the last two years, there are now more people than ever in the second and third groups. And I’m not so sure that that wasn’t the actual intent behind that whole mess in the first place. We are weaker and less able to respond to a biological threat (or any other national threat) now than we ever were before. I don’t think that was a coincidence.