We're at 26k cases per day in the US, yes if you continue with r<1 for long enough you have few enough cases that you change strategy to eradication, but that isn't really important. Saying what your strategy is now doesn't mean you're bound to it for months or years, you have to shift based on reality, we're not just dealing with a mathematical model.

Focusing on the rate as the metric of attention seems very much like the right thing to be at the center of public policy.