> you don't accumulate susceptibility to disease by avoiding it But you do accumulate protection against pathogens by being exposed to them. > as long as we c

> you don't accumulate susceptibility to disease by avoiding it But you do accumulate protection against pathogens by being exposed to them. > as long as we continue social distancing and masking The source I cited mentions that one of the primary risks is overwhelming medical facilities with huge waves of people who are all sick at the same time with endemic illnesses like the flu, RSV, etc. > this is a better argument for continuing the mitigations and slowly removing them over time An idea worth exploring for sure, but I think it will be difficult to achieve practically. At some point in that process there is going to be a majority of people out living their lives and not adhering to the mitigations, which is when the aforementioned consequences of these NPI's will become relevant.