1/7 I've been sucked into a few heated Twitter debates about whether stay-at-home policies are still necessary. I'm a layperson and so are 99% of the people I'm engaging with, so keep that in mind. But the thing everybody forgets about COVID-19

2/7 is the significance of asymptomatic transmission. This is what makes COVID-19 disanalogous to seasonal flu or even SARS. We know who can transmit flu virus: sick people. So if you're sick, you stay home. We don't "shut the economy down" over flu

3/7 because we have the critical information we need to do targeted isolation. We don't have that with COVID-19 because determining who can transmit it requires a test, and we haven't stood up a robust enough testing program to meet the need.

4/7 I keep hearing "X number of people die every year from flu and we don't shut the economy down over that, so why do it over this?" Asymptomatic transmission is why. Think of it this way: You're hosting a birthday party with a bunch of kids. It's cake time,

5/7 and kids are about to run in from the backyard when you notice a dog turd on the lawn with a footprint in it. In the absence of a shoe-inspection regime, your only choice for keeping poop off of your carpet is to have all the kids take their shoes off before they go inside.

6/7 People are worried that we'll be forced to stay at home until the disease is eradicated or we develop a vaccine. That's not true. We just need to hold on until there's a good testing program and a bit more knowledge about antibodies and immunity, which could be soon.

7/7 You don't have to get rid of your dog, put him in a diaper, or never host another birthday party. You just have to know which kid stepped in the turd.