[Blue Baggie]

If the whole world isolated for 14 days coronavirus would not have been able to be passed on. Any infected would have recovered. Hence the Coronavirus would cease to exist ? Sounds simple but I'm trying to think of a good reason why it wouldn't work.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

1. Some jobs have to be worked 24/7 by someone or other. Even if you can guarantee that everyone has a basic food supply to last 14 days, allowing shops and supermarkets to close - an enormous logistical ask in itself - we still need power to run our appliances and cook that food. That's before you get onto healthcare workers: with the best will in the world, some people will inevitably have accidents or be taken badly ill in that fortnight. They'll need treatment, therefore no total isolation.

2. You're relying on total co-operation from every individual. Even the most cursory glance at the USA on the nightly news will show you any number of special souls who are titting about in public with high-tech weaponry and swastika banners because someone dared to suggest that they stand two metres apart and wear a facemask. The only way to stop that (as well as all the opportunist criminals who'd see it as a field day) is to put police or soldiers on the streets and authorise the use of lethal force. Which means no total isolation for them, before you even get onto the moral cost of the inevitable bloodbath, and the knock-on effects of such hideous, draconian scenes playing out on the streets of democratic countries.

3. You're also relying on total co-operation from every nation. If Iran or North Korea - or dozens of others with a penchant for secrecy and a hatred of the West - say they're not playing ball, it's only a matter of time before it starts to spread again.

4. I'm not sure if it's been conclusively determined yet whether a person exhibiting symptoms for weeks on end remains infectious all that time, but it *has* been conclusively determined that the virus lies dormant in some people and "re-infects" them further down the line, meaning more outbreaks are simply unavoidable.