HALF AND HALF

Here's a radical notion to solve the Coronavirus Pandemic in this (or any other) country:

Half the population goes into a strict 14-day isolation. Folks prepare by buying food, stockpiling medicine, toilet paper, and so forth, then they hunker down for two weeks. Watch some more Netflix or something.

The other half goes about life as best it can: wearing masks, socially distancing, and so forth. The New Normal.

At the end of 14 days, the isolated half of the population comes out of hibernation, blinking in the sunlight, ready to get back to life.

At the same time, the second half goes into isolation for their 14-day ordeal.

Theoretically, except for stragglers, cheaters, non-conformists, dedicated a-holes, and whatnot—the folks who refuse to participate, some of which might be Covid positive—everybody in this reduced population will be Covid negative. Everybody!

That means they could go back to regular life with confidence: bars, restaurants, movie theaters, ball games, everything. Schools and jobs. Regular life. Just like before the thing came to be.

When the second half of the population comes out of its isolation, those folks too would be Covid negative, and should be able to join their brothers in happy, happy normal life.

To be safe, though, it would probably be necessary to run the program twice in a row: half of America in isolation, the other half not. Rinse and repeat. And to deal with live viruses lingering in the air or on surfaces, it might make sense to have a day or two of overlap.

The devil, as usual, is in the details.

Many people would probably be exempt: health workers, cops, fire fighters, and so forth. Or maybe just half of them. With fewer people out there, it might only take half the cops, etc., to deal with them.

Here's a bonus: With half the population in hiding, the demand for Covid tests would almost certainly decline. Also, with only half the nation available to get Covid, that should take some of the burden off harried hospital workers.

Putting half the population into isolation for two weeks is like testing half the nation for Covid all at once—and finding them all negative.

(Okay, most of them—some folks may come down with Covid from exposures to the virus that occurred just prior to beginning the lock-down. Those who come down with Covid while in isolation would have to spend more time there.)

But in the next two weeks, you'd be testing the other half of the country—all at once.

The cheapest and most effective test ever! Don't have somebody stick a cotton swab up your nose and into your brain, then wait two weeks for the results. Go home for two weeks and it's over without a test.

Congratulations, you're negative!

Could something as bizarre as this be put into operation?