Just out of curiosity, what would the outcome be if the US let the contagion rip through the population? Infection and mortality rates similar to the common flu? Any death is tragic, but will the costs associated with fighting the disease out weigh letting the disease run its course. I am not advocating this, but just throwing it out for discussion.
I’ve thought about that, but with the estimated 20% of cases being serious*, I’m guessing that our health care system would quickly become overwhelmed, just like northern Italy, if the spring and summer temperatures don’t burn it out.
*I’m guessing serious cases would be more like 10% over here, due to our healthier baseline and younger average age, but those cases would still overwhelm the health system. 10% of 330 million = 33 million. No way our hospitals could handle all that over a few months.