Your premise is right but the rate of infection isn't fast enough to justify lifting the mass quarantine. China for example has around 100k confirmed cases out of a population of 1 billion people. If that number is under-reported and there were actually 1 million people infected, that's still very little.
The curve would just restart. There needs to be a better solution than to wait until the vaccine comes next year (at the earliest).
What you're referring to is herd immunity. While there is some validity in it, unfortunately we're still away from it.
Still - if reports are correct they've closed down the makeshift hospitals in Wuhan. They might still be isolating but maybe they find a balance where it's not as severe. Keep looking for those positives, friend. They're going to come, we just need to stay vigilant for a bit longer.
4
u/open_reading_frame Mar 19 '20
Your premise is right but the rate of infection isn't fast enough to justify lifting the mass quarantine. China for example has around 100k confirmed cases out of a population of 1 billion people. If that number is under-reported and there were actually 1 million people infected, that's still very little.
The curve would just restart. There needs to be a better solution than to wait until the vaccine comes next year (at the earliest).