An American friend, who has traveled extensively in India and is very favorable to Hinduism wondered why India hasn't tested everyone for Covid-19 and why the government hasn't imposed nationwide quarantine. I replied as follows:
It is important not to resort to a sledgehammer when the need may be for a razor. In spite of the panic-driven cry to shut down everything, people forget something very basic. The Covid-19 virus has a minimum gestation period of 2 weeks before symptoms manifest which means that by the time the first symptoms were reported in China in end-Dec the virus had already traveled to other countries.
Covid-19 doesn't affect everyone. Just 2% of those who're exposed contract it and only 2% of those who contract suffer serious conditions. In other words we're looking at 0.02% at risk. Even that falls under a specific cluster, e.g., older people, those with pre-existing respiratory conditions. A much better approach would be to target and isolate only those who're at risk. Direct precious resources at them, e.g., mobile ventilators and support during recovery, treating with HIV medication (an IIT Delhi paper pointed out that 4 proteins in Covid-19 are identical copies of the proteins from HIV).
All the panic notwithstanding, India celebrated at least 2 major public festivals since the virus broke out, i.e., Pongal, Holi. This is in addition to the local festivals where too people assemble. Starting January is the most auspicious wedding season in India. People not only assemble but also travel extensively for weddings. Literally thousands of weddings have happened in the last few weeks. If assembly alone causes an epidemic, India should have had a major attack by now. That's evidently not the case.
No need to test unless there are symptoms. The craving for tests and vaccines let the Pharma and numerous private sector players to profit from a (partially manufactured) crisis. Au contraire, even flu shots are not common in India. Medical intervention is only sought when needed. Indians aren't getting flu or falling sick any more than Americans are!
A complete shutdown comes at a significant cost especially to the poorer sections of Indians. That cost would even include deaths and starvation. One should resort to that only when absolutely necessary. Not because of panic. This is even more pertinent when we consider the fact that only a certain demographic cluster is at risk - which means you surgically isolate them, not the population.
Let's keep an open mind. You've traveled extensively in India. You know how crowded every bus, train, restaurant, public place is. Sit back and wait for the next 6 weeks. If this turns out to be India's plague then I would concede that you were all along right and not just me and GoI but virtually all but the West-aping Indians seriously erred. Else, you may want to consider the most important point which merits discussion: checking analysis for confounding variables. If I turn out to be right, you may want to treat western propaganda with skepticism.
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