Quote Originally Posted by Burney View Post
No, the only thing I'm saying is that pointing to the death rates of other countries who locked down earlier as proof that we ought to have done similar just doesn't work. There are too many other factors at work to draw that conclusion.
Equally, there has been a fundamental failure to understand what lockdown is for. As you say, all lockdown can do is flatten the curve to avoid preventable deaths due to overwhelmed health services. In and of itself, it cannot protect those who are likely to die from this from doing so. Without a vaccine or effective treatments, the majority of those people are going to contract it and die sooner or later. All lockdown can affect is when and how well the health service can cope.
Delaying infection gives you more time to create a vaccine or a treatment. It can also provide data to inform a future relaxing of the lockdown. A strict enough lockdown, over a suitable period of time could eradicate the disease, but I doubt there is appetite for that.

It may also give time to improve the clinical guidance, which leads to more effective treatment (e.g. ventilators were the big thing, evidence now suggests they aren't). It could also give time to ramp up PPE production.