I don't think the intent of any of this is to stop the virus, but rather to slow its spread so the hospital system can keep up. Unfortunately, modern medicine being what it is, we don't have an abundance of hospital beds in this country (and most likely in western Europe as well.)
It is interesting that the western response to the crisis is to shut down the economy rather than do what's been done in the past - build temporary capacity to address acute illness. We all remember pictures from the Spanish flu epidemic of patients being housed in tent cities. Of course, back then it wasn't swiftly understood that large gatherings, like the infamous Philly war bond parade, were spreading the virus like wildfire.
I wonder whether a happy medium would have worked better. Like where we were a week ago, closing sporting events, parades, concerts and similar large gatherings, but not shutting down all "non-essential businesses" as Philadelphia has now done. The latter will grievously harm the economy, especially small businesses and the millions they employ, and will require economic triage of the budget-busting variety. I fear that we were in the sweet spot between caution and overreaction about a week ago, and now have crossed the line where the economic casualties may well eclipse the human ones.
Hopefully as COVID-19 victims recover we will begin to be able to roll out antibody serums in the next few weeks that can address acute infections and help get us to the place where we can doff the economic noose around our necks.
