Rethinking how to weather the COVID-19 storm

Trying to contain the spread is not the only option

By far, the best strategy to combat a potential pandemic is to nip the pathogen in the bud. It worked for SARS and MERS, two other deadly coronaviruses. Unfortunately, the total number of confirmed cases worldwide is still exponentially growing, with many infections going undetected because people are unaware they have contracted the disease. On top, the virus is everywhere, from Greenland to Papua New Guinea. Conclusion: the genie is out of the bottle, despite draconian measures to slow the spread at a massive social, psychological, and economical cost. So what to do?

The method to let COVID-19 run rampant — call it spike the curve — without a vaccine or cure is off the table. It can quickly overwhelm emergency wards and Intensive Care Units (ICU). The rapid outbreak and fatality rate of over 10% in Northern Italy have shown that. Doctors had to decide who to give respiratory help and who to let die. The gut-wrenching triage has proven that this is an unethical risky scenario.

A different approach is containment to flatten the curve and prevent the healthcare system for overloading, implemented across the globe. Either by lock-down or by imposing extraordinary stringent social distancing and hygiene measures. A serious drawback is that these measures will not…