FWIW Vietnam's youthful demographics are pretty much irrelevant; what's impressive about Vietnam is not its mortality rate but that they shut down viral transmission.
My point is that many countries with wildly different conditions have successfully suppressed the virus, which I think suggests that just about any country could have suppressed the virus with the right policies. At least, one should not confidently assert that there is no way the USA, western Europe, etc could have successfully suppressed the virus.
> FWIW Vietnam's youthful demographics are pretty much irrelevant; what's impressive about Vietnam is not its mortality rate but that they shut down viral transmission
The young are less likely to get sick, those who don't get sick are less likely to spread the virus. Youthful demographics are not irrelevant to shutting down viral transmission.
I have had the impression that the age effect on sickness and transmission is much less than on mortality, but I admit I don't remember any specific data on that.
I'm not saying they couldn't have suppressed it, I'm saying they couldn't have done so without a lockdown. Once the virus is progressing through your population there's no other way, though masks certainly seem to help. With sufficient testing you can track it's progress and employ smarter lockdown strategies of course.
My point is that many countries with wildly different conditions have successfully suppressed the virus, which I think suggests that just about any country could have suppressed the virus with the right policies. At least, one should not confidently assert that there is no way the USA, western Europe, etc could have successfully suppressed the virus.