The operative point is not how many have died — it's how many could die. If we gave up altogether on mask-wearing and social distancing, the numbers would get

The operative point is not how many have died — it's how many could die. If we gave up altogether on mask-wearing and social distancing, the numbers would get to be much larger. This is partly because the ratio of deaths to infections would increase as the hospitals were overwhelmed. The relentless march of exponential growth would see to that. The fact that the numbers don't seem that dramatic yet doesn't mean that measures to slow the progress of the virus aren't important.