For those who claim that COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus is a Black Swan event, that is unexpected with unanticipated consequences, I suggest reading Tom Clancy's 1996 novel "Executive Orders". This has a virus spreading across the world, with the US President ordering emergency measures:
"The only way to contain this epidemic is to shut down all places of assembly - theaters, shopping malls, sports stadia, business offices, everything, - and to shut off all interstate travel." From, Executive Orders, page 676, Tom Clancy, 1996.
Of course this was a fictional account of what epidemiologists, and emergency planners around the world, had feared since the
SARS outbreaks in the early 2000s. Countries which suffered SARS outbreaks put in place measures then and so have been able to respond better now. The citizens of countries with government which knew the risks, but failed to prepared, have suffered the consequences.
