The government has a very stark choice right now. Disrupt everyone's life and order everyone stay home like what was done in China, and have the economy grind to a halt, or keep everyone doing their daily routine and just deal with the deaths as they come. The problem is that even by ordering everyone stay home will be unlikely to stop this thing, because the US can't put everyone under house arrest so there will be people out and about, and as long as there are people meeting, it still spreads.
At a death rate of 3% and the only option just slows the spread rather than stop it, it may actually make more sense to keep the economy running and deal with the deaths as they come, because a stalled economy will also cause deaths as essential supply chains get broken. Even at a 97% survival rate though, that's an overwhelming number of critically sick and deceased people though, it's going to be very ugly no matter which choice the government takes.
Personally I think it'd make sense to build facilities for the most at risk (immuno compromised and elderly) to stay until a vaccine is ready. That means the rest of the population keeps going and takes its chances with the virus, while the riskiest are shielded.