During those 18 months, things are going to be very difficult and very scary.  Our economy and our society will be disrupted in profound ways.  Worst of all, if the suppression policies actually work, it will feel like we are doing all this for nothing, because the infection and death rates will be very low.  It's easy to get people to come together in common sacrifice in the middle of a war.  It's very hard to get them to do so in a pandemic that looks invisible precisely because suppression methods are working.  But that's exactly what we're going to have to do.