> Even if you flatten the curve, without a vaccine, the area under the curve remains the same. Not necessarily. The higher the social distancing at the peak, t

> Even if you flatten the curve, without a vaccine, the area under the curve remains the same. Not necessarily. The higher the social distancing at the peak, the lower the percentage of infection needed for herd immunity to kick in. Ergo, in effect, lower number of cases. If you drop your R0 by half, your her immunity percentage necessary halves as well! Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity Look under the Mechanics section.