It's all about the numbers

The need for social distancing all goes back to the numbers and how much we can stem the tide of illness and death.

When Dr. Anthony Fauci made his case to the President about extending the social distancing guidelines, it was with data in mind.

After Fauci and looked at the numbers and trends, he said the United States could see 100,000 deaths. That’s an alarming number and shows all of the reasons why these measures must continue.

As Fauci told CNN, “It would not have been a good idea to pull back at a time when you really needed to be pressing your foot on the pedal as opposed to on the brakes.”

And this isn’t just about the places where cases are spiking. This is also about the places that have yet to spike. Fauci has mentioned that in those places, people should be taking this as seriously as possible, and if they don’t, they are “timbers that can turn into big fires.”

One model cited by the White House found 82,000 people in the United States could die from coronavirus by August, even with social distancing.

No models are perfect, but by saying some of these numbers out loud, the hope is that people who are not following social distancing guidelines will pay more attention. Maybe that will urge states without major coronavirus outbreaks to take action to prevent hotspots from developing.