Coronavirus mitigation

 The Brookings Institution - a Washington, DC thinktank - has long published a journal, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. Papers for the journal are first presented in the conference by the authors with discussants. The eventual result is later published. One panel today (via Zoom) dealt with the current coronavirus situation. In particular, UCLA Econ Professor Andrew Atkeson looked at various simulations of the current pandemic.* He noted that the various mitigation measures taken tend to limit the spread of the disease, but they slow it down rather than - in the long run - substantially avoid deaths ABSENT a vaccine. With a vaccine, delaying deaths during the vaccine development process leads to avoiding them over the long run.

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*Andrew Atkeson, "Behavior and the Dynamic of Epidemics” https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/BPEASP21_Atkeson_conf-draft.pdf. A summary is available at https://www.brookings.edu/bpea-articles/behavior-and-the-dynamic-of-epidemics/.