This virus has an incubation period of up to 2 weeks (contagious for 5-7 days on average). That means if nobody transmits it to anyone else over 3 weeks, the virus is gone. Even if you started with 100,000 cases, it is gone in 3-4 weeks under perfect mitigation. When compliance falters with any kind of "lockdown" then more virus persists. Japanese enjoy their freedom, but they understand when drastic action is needed for the common good. And they ALL had/used facemasks. That is why Japan knocked this out in under two months with very little testing. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/29/w...ronavirus.html

Japan paid the price, as well. It was not "getting on with their lives" at all: https://thediplomat.com/2020/05/japa...me-since-2015/

So funny how back in March, I was the one who pounded the table about smart mitigation strategies that allow for conscious co-mingling, while everyone wanted to isolate and hide indefinitely. Now, with this virus absolutely no different and no less prevalent (in the US and many other countries), I seem like the one who is being overly alarmist. This virus is exactly the same as it was in March except we have Remdesivir (if your hospital has it) to get you home a couple days earlier, the ICU docs will intubate you later and roll you into prone position, and you might get a test faster if you need one. Not much different otherwise. Yet our reactions to it have swung from one extreme to the other, showing a basic misunderstanding of the threat at hand.