Quote (NetflixAdaptationWidow @ 15 Sep 2021 18:14)
We had a chance to, as a species, basically kill Covid. We failed. We caved to private interests instead of releasing vaccine formulations to the third world. We didn't stop spread in our own countries so forget about helping less capable countries to mask and control it. Only a few countries implemented good contact tracing programs.
We just failed as a species to contain something that could have been contained pretty easily if everybody had gotten on board.
You should mention that it was China which wasted the only chance we had to eradicate the virus. Once it had spread around the globe in February 2020, it was too late for that. Even a coordinated, global total lockdown - which would have come with unimaginable economic costs and is purely hypothetical anyway in the absence of a world government - would probably have failed at that point in time, considering how easily the virus spreads to other species. With all kinds of animals being able to serve as a reservoir for the virus, total elimination was no longer possible by that point.
I'm also sceptical if Europe/NA could have achieved the same degree of control over the spread/low case numbers as, say, South Korea (which is a de facto island) with contact tracing alone, i.e. without having to resort to perpetual lockdowns.
So, tldr, I completely disagree with your characterization of covid as something that "could have been contained pretty easily". A novel virus which is highly contagious, airborne and capable of pre- and asymptomatic spread is pretty much the worst case scenario for containment.