Lockdowns are effective as tourniquets, but indefinite or long term use was never logical. There should have been more forward-thinking and pragmatic options pushed earlier. We will now see the natural repercussions of lockdown-centered policies.
Lockdowns are/were intended to prevent jamming hospitals with COVID patients which would lead to non-COVID emergencies being put at risk.
The idea is to lockdown an area not to STOP, but to SLOW the trickle of new patients into hospitals at a rate they can be serviced: e.g., balancing the pipeline. In anticipation of the huge surges seen in the North East US, many hospitals built-out their capacity but didn't need it. Thankfully, and hopefully they will not.
As for "natural repercussions," the different phased-reopening plans that governors are drawing up all share the same thing: let's try opening a little, and if the cases shoot up again, lock down if hospitals are at risk of overflowing. We just don't have a national policy, it is patchworks of different state alliances.
It was the best idea at the time, and we all know the only other proposed solution was to NOT lock down and let those who are susceptible pay the price. Some people on the news vocally approved of that idea, most people did not according to surveys.
The US lockdown should have been used to buy us time to put procedures in place to stop further spread.
The first US fatality was reported on Feb 29. There are reports that it started spreading in the US in late December. It took two months to notice it, 3.5 to panic. That said, people are looking for it now, so that helps.
I don't think anyone is claiming to totally eradicate it, or did I miss something? Because as long as people travel, it will still exist, e.g., we still have SARS and MERS and ZIKA, just very low numbers.
I thought the mindset was minimize it until we have a vaccine. I could be wrong.
“Los Angeles County, which has recorded the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in California, has extended stay-at-home orders indefinitely.”
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/LA-to-extend-sta...
NJ stay at home order continued indefinitely | FOX 5 New York https://www.fox5ny.com/news/nj-stay-at-home-order-continued-.... And many many more...
Flattening the curve was the refrain but we seem to have forgotten that.
It's going to be very interesting going forward. The American public (myself included more times than I would care to admit) is really good about moving on and having a short-term memory on things (Lots of these things happened back in 1918 with masks, social distancing, lockdowns, people hating the lockdowns, etc). I worry what happens when you couple that urgency to move on with something that, from all indications, cannot be swept under the rug.