So with only a small minority of the population that can be confidently considered low risk, relaxing restrictions on them makes no sense. (Although the president’s extension of physical distancing measures through April is welcome news, it may not be enough.) And even if these low-risk individuals could be identified and safely allowed to become infected, they would pose a threat to the majority.

Most critically, an overwhelmed health care system places everyone at risk. This includes the child with appendicitis, the expectant mother with labor complications, the middle-aged man with chest pain and anyone who can’t get treatment for cancer, kidney disease or other medical conditions.

In short, the economic costs of this collateral damage are incalculable.

So calls to relax restrictions offer a false choice. Letting the pandemic ravage the population won’t save money — it simply risks even greater economic calamity.

Many uncertainties remain about how this pandemic will unfold. Warmer weather may slow the infection rate. Intensive research efforts may identify existing drugs with exceptional effectiveness to reduce disease severity. There’s a reasonable hope for an effective vaccine by fall 2021.

But with Americans’ unique vulnerability from chronic disease, we cannot make an irreversible public health decision based on these far-off hopes.

Barring major new developments, we must pursue intensive actions to flatten the curve and expand the capacity of the health care system. We must also minimize economic harms and set the stage for a rapid recovery, as others have advocated, with spending to ensure that no one goes hungry, homeless or without health care for financial reasons; prevent personal financial ruin because of loss of employment or medical expenses; and maintain business infrastructure, focused especially on small business with limited financial resources.

The costs of these measures would be great. But failure to contain the spread of Covid-19 could result in great economic costs as well as untold deaths from the infection and millions more from other causes that could strike anyone. That’s too great a risk to take.

David S. Ludwig is a physician specializing in obesity at Boston Children’s Hospital and professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Richard Malley is a physician specializing in infectious diseases at Boston Children’s Hospital and professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.