The lockdowns worked—but what comes next ?

The lockdowns worked—but what comes next? | Science
▻https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6488/218.full

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Exit strategy

For now, the most likely scenario is one of easing social distancing measures when it’s possible, then clamping down again when infections climb back up, a “suppress and lift” strategy that both Singapore and Hong Kong are pursuing. Whether that approach can strike the right balance between keeping the virus at bay and easing discontent and economic damage remains to be seen.

Even Singapore and Hong Kong have had to toughen some social distancing measures in recent weeks after a surge of cases, Lipsitch notes; Singapore’s social distancing regime is no longer very different from that in New York City or London. And both cities’ strategies are much harder to implement across a big country like the United States. “We have to have every single town and city and county be as good as Singapore for this to work,” he says.

Ultimately, says Jeremy Farrar, head of the Wellcome Trust, a path out of the dilemma now facing the world will come from research. It might take the form of an effective treatment for severely ill patients, or a drug that can prevent infections in health care workers, or—ultimately—a vaccine. “Science is the exit strategy,” Farrar says.

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