In the month or so that’s passed since we started taking active and deliberate measures to flatten the COVID19 curve, a lot of people who should know better have thrown perspective out the window.

Earlier today, one tweeter attempted to restore it:

Remember how the social distancing and shutdowns were designed to flatten the curve? And do you remember the purpose of the flattening? That's right: it was to prevent the number of cases from exceeding our medical services capacity to handle the number of cases. — Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) April 20, 2020

And yet now there appears to be a growing trend to require everyone in the country to be tested before we start to open things up again. — Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) April 20, 2020

Or there's the fringe group who thinks we must wait until a vaccine gets developed (note: IF it gets developed). I saw one idjit bleat "I deserve a virus free life!". The stupidity and ignorance, while stunning, is unsurprising. — Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) April 20, 2020

Anyway, getting back to the first tweet in this thread. All of the actions we've taken weren't designed to eradicate the disease. They were designed to slow the infections to a manageable level. — Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) April 20, 2020

However, if you slow the number of infections instead of eliminating them, you still get the same total number of infections, or close to it, especially with a high R value virus. — Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) April 20, 2020

So we tried to keep Covid-19 from rolling across the country unimpeded. We did so for a little while, but we cannot do it forever. And then the people in charge decided to overreach, which is what people in charge always do. — Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) April 20, 2020

Sorry, you can't buy seeds to grow your own food because that's considered non-essential. Sorry, you can't go for a run on the beach by yourself because that's non-essential. Sorry, we're letting people out of jail, but we'll arrest you for disobeying our edicts. — Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) April 20, 2020

We don’t purport to know all the answers to the COVID19 problem. But we feel confident in saying that a lot of people in the government have chosen the wrong approaches and don’t fully appreciate the consequences of those approaches.

And then what a surprise, a country founded on rebellion to tyrannical rule gets a little pissy at the "let them eat cake" crowd and decide to hold some protests about the extended lockdowns. — Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) April 20, 2020

The "let them eat cake" crowd doesn't like being disobeyed and gets big tech to takedown free speech posts about peaceful demonstrations because said demonstrations oppose government edicts. Uh huh. — Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) April 20, 2020

I enjoy studying history, but I have no interest in seeing the French Revolution part deux in this country. All y'all who think you can condescendingly lecture people who are genuinely worried about keeping their homes and feeding their families are trying to light that match. — Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) April 20, 2020

Are you listening, Nancy Pelosi, Patton Oswalt and Co.?

Things are quite possibly going to get very ugly very soon unless some pull their heads out of their collective asses. Here's hoping the head pulling happens instead of the other thing. — Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) April 20, 2020

The COVID19 response must be careful, measured, and reasonable. Government officials who attempt to take advantage of their political power do so at their own peril.