SARS-CoV-2 is killing people around the globe - novel viruses have a way of doing that - but it is not a global society killer and at this point shouldn’t continue to be treated as such.

Does that mean we discount the very real clinical and medical impacts it has on people? NO, it means you identify the most at risk and work to protect them, fully understanding there will be some outside that group that experience severe disease and die. In that sense, it is similar to influenza. We also must continue working to provide front-line health workers with proper PPE, and build sizable stockpiles at the hospital up to national level.

Does that mean we flip the switch and end all restrictions? NO, clearly social distancing has served its intended purpose of not overwhelming health systems across the nation. Maintaining those restrictions until zero new infections or a vaccine is unrealistic, but the proposed phased relaxation based upon infection trends seems a prudent balancing of public health and economic concerns. Testing capability is increasing weekly and surveillance will be necessary to identify and tamp down any future local waves of infection.

Today, we have no idea what actual mortality of this thing is. CFR is 5%+ in many countries, even the USA, but multiple antibody studies from around the globe so far estimate actual mortality between 0.1 and 0.5%. Again, does that negate the real clinical impacts this has on some people? NO! What it does do, however, is better inform public policies and individual actions...