I agree with you Schlep, which is why I am only suggesting that this COULD make an area a candidate for reopening sooner, rather than later.
At the appropriate time, there has to be a risk assessment. The risk of opening up, perhaps with limits initially, and gradually expanding against the risk of remaining shut down for an indeterminate period of time. Right now, the scientists are "running the show", but that needs to expand to include economists, businessmen etc to enable the GOV to make informed decisions, and perform the risk assessment.
I still believe lesser densely populated areas can have different solutions than large cities.
Mike