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I have not seen this as an option in the media and wondered if this has been considered and rejected.

Unless the virus has shown to be mutating frequently, this option would allow low-risk groups to be exposed in an isolated environment, they would be able to get treatment if necessary. But if as expected, the majority get over the infection without adverse affects, they can be free from having to practice social distancing and/or isolation.

The first groups could be health workers and other essential personnel like the national guard. These people could then go about doing essential work without fear of catching it or spreading it.

Over time we could significantly reduce the number of people who would be forced to practice social distancing and/or isolation.

We could even consider having Covid-19 zones where people could get exposure, become immune and then be allowed to leave the zone.

This would reduce the stress on healthcare systems overall.

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    see also medicalsciences.stackexchange.com/q/21685/11479 and medicalsciences.stackexchange.com/questions/21480/… which are not exact duplicates but the answers there may answer this as well. (BTW: I've seen this topic in the Gerrman language media)
    – cbeleites unhappy with SX
    Mar 26, 2020 at 13:52
  • My question is not a duplicate to the one indicated. Controlled and Isolated exposure may not provide heard immunity, but allows low risk people to get over the infection and function is society again. This is another way to flatten the curve. twitter.com/sanjayjaindc/status/1242931788621774851?s=20
    – Sanjay Jain
    Mar 26, 2020 at 15:22
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    Sanjay, the questions are not duplicates since they aim at achieving different things. But for all of them the crucial question is: what is the actual risk you'd expose people to? All three will not work out as intended, unless that risk is acceptably low. At the moment, we cannot be sure of this since a few weeks after the first recoveries is too early to know about long-term/irreversible damage by the disease. (And I doubt that somone leaving the hospital "recovered from Covid-19" right now can expect to have the physical performance they had before the infection.) In other words, any ...
    – cbeleites unhappy with SX
    Mar 26, 2020 at 15:53
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    reason related to medical risk why we should not pursue the course suggested by the herd immunity question is also a reason against controlled exposure for your low-risk group.
    – cbeleites unhappy with SX
    Mar 26, 2020 at 15:54
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    Sanjay - you'll have to talk to a moderator about that. I only commented that there are two questions that are closely related, even though they are not exact duplicates. I did not vote to close.
    – cbeleites unhappy with SX
    Mar 26, 2020 at 21:34

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