The key is testing, contract tracing, and quarantining when the number of cases is small. That's what South Korea, New Zealand, and a few other countries did a

The key is testing, contract tracing, and quarantining when the number of cases is small. That's what South Korea, New Zealand, and a few other countries did and they've all suffered relatively few fatalities. You still need a massive amount of tests to contain an outbreak, but the upside is that if you contain it early you don't need toe enact clumsy and broad measures like lockdowns.