Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has now spread worldwide and resulted in over 20 million diagnosed cases and 700,000 confirmed deaths globally as of August 11, 2020 [1]. Estimates of COVID-19 case fatality rates from Hubei, China, the rest of China, and other countries range from 0.3% to above 5% in different populations at various times [2, 3], with an estimate of 1.4% [4] currently favoured in some analyses [5]. Age [6] and comorbidities (hypertension, cardiovascular and respiratory disease [7]) are strong risk factors for severe illness, hospitalization, and death. Furthermore, COVID-19 poses severe challenges for health care, with risks that requirements will exceed hospital bed, critical care, and ICU capacities even in well-resourced health care systems. In the current absence of a vaccine or effective therapeutic options, widespread non-pharmaceutical interventions including testing, contact tracing, isolation and quarantine, hand hygiene, and physician distancing, along with broad physical or social distancing, are the main interventions currently available to reduce transmission. Countries have used a variety of such physical or social distancing measures including cancelling mass gatherings, closing restaurants, work-from-home orders, and “lockdowns” of varying strictness.