Lower colon gas after eating squash and eggs (red) vs regular bread (blue)
Degree of ah...engorgement, with viagra (red) vs placebo(blue).
Numerous other uses warrant keeping it on file at the end of the fingertips.
It not just healthcare capacity, its also so healthcare works dont become sick which would dramatically reduce capacity.
Try running an integration of the numbers beneath each curve for not only number of cases, but number of deaths. It might surprise that the numbers between the two curves are pretty close to the same, maybe higher under the protective measures curve because the length of time is stretched out further. Lock the population away and you protect them from exposure which means you now have a large part of the population who has built no immunity (herd immunity) and are now more vulnerable to the virus than if nothing had been done. Vaccines to these viruses do not build lasting immunity which is why we immunize against flu and pneumonia every year. Flattening the curve is only useful to slow the infection rate while massing resources to fight it. After a week or two, it makes things worse.
So now we have fewer deaths and cases AND fewer people exposed who have developed immunity. If we reopen the country, we have huge numbers of peope still vulnerable and the numbers of diseased will rise again.
Were we to have made everyone wear masks and practice a more reasonable social distancing, we would have likely seen many more moderate cases because the viral load would have been less.
So, would masks make sense as we re-open country?