The point here is that eventually lockdowns will have to be eased, otherwise you trash the economy. If you have the virus in circulation any easing will cause R to shoot up... and if you're not careful you will end up with a second wave. Remember those charts the gov't was using back in March? They showed very clearly that when lockdowns ended a second wave was inevitable.
Countries like NZ have largely avoided the first wave, but that just means they now have to be vigilant every hour of every day... even a couple of asymptomaic people coming in to a country which has no immunes will set off a chain reaction.
While it's likely that the level of immunity here will be low, even 5% immunity would slow the spread somewhat which will flatten a second curve.
At least things are moving on with antibody testing now, I note the Abbott Labs one mentioned yesterday is lab-based which should give far greater accuracy than the "at home" testing kits we've seen mentioned before.
Originally Posted by: Retron