We can probably stay sheltered in our homes, collectively flattening the curve of coronavirus infections, for several more weeks—maybe a few more months if we must. But for the sake of our mental health, not to mention that of the global economy, we can’t stay cooped up for the 12 to 18 months that it might take to create and validate vaccines or drugs that are effective against SARS-CoV-2.
So how do we safely roll back the current social-distancing measures? The emerging consensus is that it will happen region by region as falling infection rates allow, and with protective measures that include massively scaled-up diagnostic testing, contact tracing, and antibody testing to see who’s immune. Here in the US, as Gideon Lichfield explains in this episode of Deep Tech, we’re only at the beginning of those efforts.
