[titzer]

In the early part of a pandemic, when there are only a few tens of people infected, and especially when international travel is involved, preventing each one of those persons is eliminating a new cluster in an area around that person. Slowing the spread is important at all stages, but particular important and effective at the beginning. Early quarantine could mean the difference between no outbreak, a little outbreak, or a huge outbreak. It's particularly important to buy enough time putting a testing program in place so that you can identify and quarantine people, which is vastly more effective than broad lockdowns.

Of course, we could just throw our hands up and admit defeat and roll in whatever shit the dirtiest of us swine digs up and let bugs run rampant in the population, because it's "just the flu" or some idiotic crap like that.