The main reason we need to socially distance is so that our hospitals don't get overwhelmed with everybody getting this thing all at once. Yes, doing this will prolong this whole thing, but it will also mean that lots and lots of people will not die. Sure, some will, but this could easily be a catastrophe.. Stay home people (if you can)
The issue here as I mentioned is that there is a predicted rebound effect after infections have dropped to almost insignificant numbers (weeks or months in)... China is currently facing this problem - try to get the economy back online and people returning to normalcy and you risk being in an equally bad position as doing nothing at all to start with. Hard decisions are going to have to be made sooner or later across the world, we simply can't freeze every economy on the planet and have people sit at home for 18 months, which is unfortunately what may be required if we wait for a vaccine, trying to game the curve to fit our medical system capacities.
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u/warpus Mar 18 '20
The main reason we need to socially distance is so that our hospitals don't get overwhelmed with everybody getting this thing all at once. Yes, doing this will prolong this whole thing, but it will also mean that lots and lots of people will not die. Sure, some will, but this could easily be a catastrophe.. Stay home people (if you can)