>They suggest that currently, the medical system can deal with a large fraction (like maybe 2/3, 1/2 or 1/3) of the cases, but if we implement some mitigation m

>They suggest that currently, the medical system can deal with a large fraction (like maybe 2/3, 1/2 or 1/3) of the cases, but if we implement some mitigation measures, we can get the infections per day down to a level we can deal with. I never took it this way. I always thought the point was "slowing down the disease saves some lives, even if the same number of people eventually get infected." That's it. Nothing more. >They mean to tell you that we can get away without severe lockdowns as we are currently observing them in China and Italy. Instead, we let the infection burn through the entire population, until we have herd immunity (at 40% to 70%), and just space out the infections over a longer timespan. The diagram says nothing about lockdowns. The diagram doesn't promise us we will fully flatten the curve, but demonstrates the life savings benefits of flattening as much as we can. In my opinion, we should also prepare for temporary lockdowns.