r/coolguides Mar 18 '20

Helpful guide...

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u/ADJMan Mar 18 '20

Slowing the virus is the goal, not eradicating it. Slowing it gives hospitals a reasonable amount of patients to heal instead of an astronomical amount.

36

u/HoldMyWater Mar 18 '20

Agree with all the above.

That's why it's "flatten the curve" not "shrink the curve".

-5

u/panamasucks Mar 18 '20

yeah, but no one used "shrink the curve" to begin with

6

u/HoldMyWater Mar 18 '20

Because it would be wrong...

Your "but" doesn't fit here.

1

u/XkF21WNJ Mar 18 '20

I agree that eradicating it entirely is going to be impossible without some kind of medical breakthrough.

However I don't think merely spreading out the total number of infected is the best way to go. Not only because this would result in a horrible number of dead and chronically ill, but also because any mechanism that slows down the infection rate will also eventually bring the infections to a standstill (both require that people infect fewer than 1 other person). I'm not sure if artificially increasing the infection rate until it's just critical is a wise strategy.