There absolutely is an acceptable way out of this. China, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, at least, are going to be just fine. They are focused on suppressing and controlling the virus. Once they get few enough imports from travel (presumably by restricting travel from countries where the virus is uncontrolled) and eliminate local transmission, they can resume life-as-usual, apart from being on high alert for imported cases.

There is no other acceptable solution. Countries hoping to avoid the short-term economic cost of suppressing the virus will find themselves paying a greater economic cost over the long-term along with a massive cost in lives.

The question is now: which countries will adopt the correct approach before it's too late?