Ping Pong Diplomacy - part the first

Recent reporting (here, for example) about models demonstrating the reduced loss of life if The Very Unstable Lunatic had actually done something in January or February or early March may sound outlandish. But recall the effect of the geometric (oft called exponential) expansion: unless you contain it very early, it is totally out of control in a blink of an eye. I refer you to the 'Parallax View' series, and the underlying topo maps.

Here's a demonstration of the progression. It's just ping pong balls, mouse traps, and without a containment box (less complete that way). Left alone, it's over before you can even count. Catch some of the first few ping pong balls, and the 'explosion' falls apart. The same is true for epidemics.

That's why the models say so many lives would have been saved if The Very Unstable Lunatic hadn't sat around with his thumb up his ass (and ours) for those first 2 months.