A case for ending lockdown
&gt; Remember, flattening the curve does not reduce deaths in the long-run, except insofar as it avoids overrunning hospitals, which we have already achieved. Flattening the curve is not beneficial for its own sake; indeed, it worsens the economic damage, and thus it should only be practiced unti we know that we won’t overwhelm hospitals. The area under the curve remains the same. We strongly belief that a rational examination of the evidence will show that practicing containment “until the vaccine” (which will take years and is not guaranteed to be possible, although we personally believe that we eventually will have an effective vaccine) is a foolish policy that will lead to far more mortality than simply “biting the bullet”.<p>The problem with the analysis and exhortation to end the lockdown is contained in the above.<p>Flattening the curve is a way of maintaining hospital capacity and is an ongoing effort. Saying &quot;we have already achieved&quot; it is nonsensical.<p>What does make sense is maintaining hospital capacity and following a reopening protocol along the lines of:<p>1. Reopen sections of economy, relaxing stay-at-home for some workers.<p>2. Monitor for outbreaks.<p>3. Test and contact tracing.<p>4. In case of new outbreaks: quarantine and strengthen stay-at-home.<p>5. Repeat 1-4.<p>And continuing this until<p>- Advent of treatments for COVID-19<p>- Advent of vaccine for SARS-CoV-2<p>- Herd immunity has been achieved.<p>The essay linked in the OP refutes the simple argument that lockdown must be maintained by presenting an overwhelming number of details about COVID-19, its lethality, elective vaccination, secular superstition, and all other manner of irrelevant topics.<p>The reason for the lockdown is to maintain healthcare capacity in the face of a virus that is highly contagious.<p>A workable and moral framework for ending lockdown looks something like what I&#x27;ve outlined above.<p>The OP provides no suggestions on how lockdown might end, other than gathering an enormous amount of tangential evidence to prove &quot;The Case for Ending Lockdown&quot;.