> If everyone thought like you and tried to get it early, then the hospitals would be overrun and you'd be no better off.

If the reality is that only a small fraction of people would think like that, the we don't need to worry about that line of reasoning.

But I agree with your point that it's moot due to the potential for reinfection.

The more people that think like that, the more that type of thinking increases. Like panic buying inducing more panic buying. So it might start small, but could easily balloon quite fast.

According to top health officials in Norway (as seen on a TV program last night), reinfection is not likely, at least in the short run. And the Japanese case apparently is based on a misunderstanding, not an actual reinfection.

Over the long haul, reinfection is quite possible, since immunity wears off with time. It is not considered unlikely that this disease will be with us forever. In that case, vaccination will perhaps be our best tool to manage it.