I’m kind of scared to actually know the amount of cases that are actually out there that have not been tested. Millions in this country easily likely.
In a way wouldn't that actually be a good thing? The nature of peoples' symptoms are what they are whether they get confirmed or not. I guess I'd be a lot more alarmed if we had this many hospitalizations and fatalities and we
didn't have a bunch of unconfirmed cases and exposures out there. Considering the ease of transmission for this virus it seems likely that a high percentage of the population is going to be exposed. I'd feel a lot better knowing there are millions of people that contracted the virus but had mild/no symptoms.
Broader testing plus antibody testing would be huge in getting a better idea of where we are at and where we need to potentially shift resources, need to take more stringent measures in terms of lockdown and travel.
So I can see why that thought is pretty frightening to people, but I've always had in my mind that this will play out by a vast majority of people getting exposed, and hopefully it is drawn out enough to stay within hospital capacity.
What I am watching for Iowa specifically is the number of "currently hospitalized." To me that is the key metric. Realistically that number is going to grow for a while, and that will tell us what the most important peak really is. It is growing slowly, meaning new hospitalizations are currently outpacing discharges/recoveries. However, it is growing by single digits per day, and we've got a fair amount of capacity to utilize yet. Considering the length of symptoms and when it really started to hit Iowa, I think we'll see the discharges ramping up. However, if we aren't smart about it that could ramp up quickly. The scary part to me in Iowa is some of the rural areas. If people aren't careful you could have large groups of elderly get sick with limited resources at hospitals nearby.
I really think we'll see this initial peak (based on currently hospitalized), then a few weeks a secondary peak after we open things back up, and probably a third peak in the fall again. With the nature of this virus I really think mass exposure is all but inevitable. As every place has shown us, the key is keeping that spread slow enough to stay within medical capacity, with the ultimate goal slowing it enough to get herd immunity, effective treatment of symptoms to minimize its effect, and a vaccine.