1/ I spoke with Chicago epidemiologist @GSlutkin for this piece, and he posed this question: "At what point of there being new cases and new deaths per day are people going to feel like they’re fine going to concerts or going to ballgames?" https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/rex-huppke/ct-coronavirus-pandemic-chicago-disease-expert-fauci-huppke-20200406-p7ghulrbznedjjhz6ixtnukfxe-story.html

2/ "If you’re in Chicago and there were 20 cases a day or 50 cases, what is the point where you feel just fine? Right now, everything’s going up everywhere. There isn’t any place that’s going down.”

So we face a long haul, and people need to set aside optimism for pragmatism.

3/ This isn't going to clear up by summer. Life won't return to normal until well after an effective vaccine and treatments are tested and widely available. Thinking otherwise is buying the false hope being peddled by opportunists.

4/ Slutkin offers this advice regarding our social distancing behaviors: "You have to overdo it in your own behavior. There isn’t a compromise. If you feel like, ‘Oh, I’ll just go out this one time or we’ll just get together for a couple hours,’ that won’t work."

5/ He continued: "You have to really overdo it in terms of staying away from people other than those you live with. If you feel like you’re overdoing it, that’s the right feeling. If you feel like you’re overdoing it, overdo it more, and you still won’t be overdoing it.”

6/ This isn't fatalistic. It's not fear-mongering. It's pragmatic, a call to follow the facts and the science.

We will find out way through this. But we need to recognize the long road ahead. Please share this so others can get their heads right. END