It is endlessly frustrating to see the tenor of argument around COVID: mask vs. no mask, lockdown vs. no lockdown, flattening the curve vs. eliminating the virus. All of these strategies have arisen and evolved over a relatively short period of time, necessarily with incomplete data, and in places both different and affected by the virus differently. No sane person should be talking about these terms in black and white.

Speaking as someone from New York City: Doing nothing (as in the very early stages) quickly resulted in overwhelmed hospitals and morgues. Doing a fairly serious lockdown along with masking then reduced cases to a very manageable level. The fine balance between these two extremes is somewhere in between, and will be different for each locale depending on demographic details such as population density, number of multigenerational households, etc.

The goal of flattening the curve while still keeping the economy healthy, as some commenters here seem to desire, surely will be easier the closer we are to eradicating the disease.