I’m not saying rural areas are not susceptible. I’m not even saying it won’t get there (it probably already is). I’m talking about geographical epidemiology.
Even if a person in a rural area is infected, they will not spread it to others at anywhere near the same numbers as their urban counterparts. This is because people are far more spaced out already by comparison. This space acts as a somewhat natural barrier to how far and how quickly the disease can spread in such areas.
That doesn’t mean it won’t spread, but it will do so at a slower pace compared to urban areas and will be far easier to get under control. So you can’t say these numbers are going to continue doubling every 2 days nationwide. That’s just the trend in highly populated areas right now.
97% of America’s land is in rural counties. So this rate of infection is primarily focused in those areas that make up the other 3%. Granted there are a lot of people in that 3% geography, but it is also a far more concentrated effort to contain it. And like I said earlier, half of the cases in this country are in NY with the bulk in NYC. There is a reason for that.
Yes, of course population density matters. However, the United States population is concentrated in cities and suburbs.
Only about 20% of Americans live in rural areas. Although the density is lower in suburbs than cities, many suburbanites venture into or closer to the city for work, play, or travel.
You can’t take these trending numbers and just extrapolate a future figure from the national population. Suggesting the number of cases will reach 7 figures is essentially saying these metropolitan areas making up 3% of the nation’s geography will continue to experience a rate of spread that will carry on exponentially completely unchecked, despite the fact they are focusing very heavily on these very areas and despite the effort of any restrictive measures being taken.
You might as well just come out and say they can’t do anything to dampen the curve.
Sure we can. That's why graphs are so powerful. The United States' growth curve is almost identical to Italy (just 10 days or so behind). Seven figures is inevitable in the USA because measures and data taken today are
two weeks behind the virus. Italy has been in full lock down for almost two weeks, and just had its highest death toll day along with thousands more transmissions.
For example, it is still fully possible for anyone that started working from home this week to have contracted the virus pre-social distancing and not even know it yet.