It appears that a Massachusetts coronavirus cluster with at least 82 cases was started by people who were not yet showing symptoms, and more than half a dozen studies have shown that people without symptoms are causing substantial amounts of infectionhttps://t.co/OnIEN4OnON

— CNN International (@cnni) March 14, 2020

Details of the UK plan starting to leak.

We're going to quarantine the over 70s for 4 months while the rest of us carry on as normal.

https://www.itv.com/news/2020-03-14/elderly-to-be-quarantined-for-four-months-in-wartime-style-mobilisation-to-combat-coronavirus/

I find it sensible, to be honest, specially considering the full-on mobilization of military resources etc. If the virus doesn't go away in the locked down countries, this might be the winning strategy.

So according to Trump we should have 500l kits by the start of next week. I could see the US ending up with tens of thousands of reported cases by next Friday.

New York State just reported its second death.

Edit: The man died on Thursday but his test results just camenin as positive. There could be people dying without knowing they had the virus. 

I'm definitely coming round to the idea. If the oldies are safe then what are the downsides to infecting everybody else?

As long as the health system can cope, the economic cost of work hours lost during sick leave are probably far, far less than those of a full lockdown.

Of course, it all hinges in fully isolating the elderly with not a lot of room for mistakes (which will happen, but then again, there'd be plenty of people violating the lockdown as well).

@John2290 - you're right, but a second wave could happen next winter regardless of the lockdowns. And then? Another lockdown?

Another lockdown during the holiday season would be a disaster for the economy.

But if it's like Spanish Flu, we'll be immune to the deadlier second wave and if it isn't like SF, it just means we copy everyone else next time or repeat Operation Granny Lockdown.

The "It's just a flu bro" is true for under 70s so it shouldn't be too bad for the health service.