To the editor:

While the week off from school is a good start, it barely scratches the surface at what needs to happen for us to properly deal with COVID-19. Below are the issues that make one week off not a permanent or ideal solution:

• It takes 14 days to complete quarantine. You could infect someone on day 13.

• It takes people anywhere from two to six weeks to recover from the virus (and they could still spread it afterward).

• It it is going to take multiple weeks to get the proper number of test kits into the state.

• The virus can live on surfaces for nine days and still infect people.

The countries which went into early lockdown (Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan) have all seen the best possible outcomes; even China has seen a drop in a cases since it locked down Wuhan and put in place serious screening and travel restrictions. 

No one may want to admit that we have to shut down our lives for a month to beat this, but that is what it is going to take to slow the spread, get more test kits, not overwhelm hospitals and gain time on a vaccine. We have to slow the rate of infection and that means social distancing.

As of today, March 15, there are 20 confirmed cases in Rhode Island. If you trust the epidemiologists and statisticians, that means the real amount of positive carriers in Rhode Island is closer to 200, right now.

Aside from the health issues one will suffer, even when you survive COVID-19, consider this risk assessment: Italy did not act quickly, and they are now so overwhelmed that their fatality rate is going to hit 20 percent. That's like playing Russian roulette. 

Andrew Reilly

31 Carter Drive

Portsmouth