The arrival of the new coronavirus is teaching us all what a pandemic demands of us. As leaders of three institutions fortunate to have access to outstanding public health research, we quickly came to understand in recent weeks that if we wanted to help protect the health of our nation, we had to take drastic action.

Experts advised us that to slow the spread of the virus, we must reduce population density and increase social distancing on our campuses. That meant turning university life upside down: suddenly sending virtually all of our undergraduates home; asking faculty to swiftly bring all instruction online; canceling academic, athletic, artistic and cultural events, and nearly all in-person meetings; shutting our libraries; and asking everyone who could work remotely to do so right away.

Initially, these actions felt awful, and uncomfortably extreme — even to those of us in charge. And the practical consequences have been difficult for everyone.

So, is all this disruption really necessary?

We believe the answer is yes.

The experience of other countries has shown the crucial value of making big moves as quickly as possible to “flatten the curve” — to slow the rate of infection so that our hospitals and health care workers are not overwhelmed.