How can a disease with a 1% mortality rate shut down the U.S? Answered by Franklin Veaux:

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69. Whatever the actual mortality rate is, the fact is that it is lower than

it could be because of the efforts of hardworking people providing medical treatment.

The basic message of "flatten the curve" of months past is that we are equipped to treat and save only a certain percentage of people at a given time. Throwing prevention efforts to the wind will raise the mortality rate because more people will require the same degree of care at the same time.

Not only will care and equipment have to be rationed, but health care workers are a greater risk when they are spread too thin. When a health care provider dies, the life saving skills that they offer are lost to who need them.

It doesn't take a lot of thinking to realize that every effort at prevention cuts down on a ripple effect that can affect countless others.