I am surprised the rates of death and infection aren’t more concerning to people.
Think of the old penny doubling every day thing. By day 15, the amount is still less than $200. Then another three days to get to $1000, and then in the last nine days or so it goes from $10,000 or so to over $5 million.
We’re in the very early stages (analogous to the first fifteen days of doubling the penny) and without strong measures I can’t see how the damage both in terms of deaths and economic damage wouldn’t be catastrophic.