Looking for contradictory opinions here.. After a long discussion with co workers, it seems to me that "flattening the curve" doesn't actually limit the number of people who get the disease, but rather just lengthens out the time it takes for that number to actually get it. Obviously this is not justification for why anyone should go out and do group activities, but it seems to be that it is almost inevitable for many people that they will get sick. The social distancing and such is to limit the sharp peak that would overwhelm our hospitals and medical ability.
I guess the best way to imagine what I'm trying to say is that the integral of the flattened curve and the non-flattened curve is the same, but the derivative over the curve is obviously wildly different.