I also will add a note of admiration for how the people of China have handled this. Their backbreaking work and sacrifice has probably slowed the spread by weeks. You can blame the authorities for not acting sooner, but it's kind of difficult to react to a killer virus until it starts to kill people and by then the horse has left the barn.
I think slowing the spread is the best we can hope for now. The main problem is healthcare throughput. Some quick back of the envelope calculations:
I live in an area of aprox 1,000,000 people, for which probably about 75 ICU beds that can support people on respirators, maybe we can double that in an emergency, but with widespread shortages of basic consumables we are going to be lucky to maintain existing capacity. If ¾ of that population catches the virus and 5% of those need intensive care, the average stay in Wuhan is around 3 weeks, we can calculate the burden on healthcare: (((7500,000 / 100 ) x 5 = 37,500 ICU patients ) / 75 ICU beds) x 3 weeks = 1500 weeks, or nearly 29 years at current capacity to treat everyone.
Obviously there are many simplifications and assumptions in there but my main point is that given existing conditions there is not enough capacity for more than a small fraction of patients. Therefore everyone working to slow the spread of the virus will aid healthcare throughput and save the maximum amount of lives.
I think slowing the spread is the best we can hope for now. The main problem is healthcare throughput. Some quick back of the envelope calculations:
I live in an area of aprox 1,000,000 people, for which probably about 75 ICU beds that can support people on respirators, maybe we can double that in an emergency, but with widespread shortages of basic consumables we are going to be lucky to maintain existing capacity. If ¾ of that population catches the virus and 5% of those need intensive care, the average stay in Wuhan is around 3 weeks, we can calculate the burden on healthcare: (((7500,000 / 100 ) x 5 = 37,500 ICU patients ) / 75 ICU beds) x 3 weeks = 1500 weeks, or nearly 29 years at current capacity to treat everyone.
Obviously there are many simplifications and assumptions in there but my main point is that given existing conditions there is not enough capacity for more than a small fraction of patients. Therefore everyone working to slow the spread of the virus will aid healthcare throughput and save the maximum amount of lives.