Originally Posted by ZCanadian

The European ban could have been criticized but only for a day, mainly by EU leaders as I recall. The WHO followed up with the same advice within 24 hours. I suspect that was an intentionally coordinated response. And yes, the right thing to do.

But it was 2 weeks before that when Italy's cases actually started to skyrocket. I don't think he ever shut down flights from South Korea (which had more cases earlier on than Italy did) until borders were locked down completely. By March 12 when the European ban was announced, the virus was present in most countries including the USA (which still had no working testing regime).

Funny (well, not funny, but strange) thing is, Canada did not institute the same travel bans (China, Europe) until later in March when all inbound traffic was halted. Yet (touch wood, not gloating by any means) our infection and death rates seem much lower. Infection rates per capita one could attribute to a smaller percentage of the population being tested as yet here. But deaths and hospitalizations are reasonably accurate numbers on both sides. We did instigate fairly rigorous closures / distancing measures, though not the lockdowns that China had by any means.

What's the right answer? Damned if I know. We can discuss that in about 18 months. I'd sure hate to be in charge right now, though!