[John W]

So do we wait for a vaccine? Of course we won’t. There’d be nothing left.

[nwrep]

I think the best course of action is to ramp up PPE and hospital supplies like ventilators, approve the HOCQ+Z-PAK treatment for Covid, and then end the shutdown. Let everyone go back to work and get infected. Once we have enough supplies and treatment regimen, we can deal with the multiplier effect through medical intervention.

I expect we will get back to work and end this shutdown in 3-4 weeks.

[Redmen4ever]

about waiting:

1. The teeter-tooter of balancing the cost and benefit of waiting (i.e., postponing life) is continually changing.

2. Slowing the invasion makes sense even if there were no prospect of ever developing a test, a treatment, or a vaccine, so we have time to gear up to deal with what we are facing.

3. With a test, as we now have, we can make reasoned decisions as to how to segregate those among us who are contagious from the rest of us. A test, even without a treatment, changes things.

4. With a treatment, the cost of taking a risk dramatically falls. This is why President Trump describes a proven anti-malaria drug as a potential game changer.

5. With a vaccine (and the development of herd immunity) we’d be back to normal.

So, no, we do not wait for a vaccine. Generally, people who seek to balance cost and benefit hardly ever say such things; but, often are criticize by those who are only sensitive to one or the other side of the equation.