So much for herd immunity?

[on the brink]

I think we are learning to live with the reality that this virus will be around for a very, very long time, despite vaccines and herd immunity. And once this one is gone, sooner or later there will be another.

Air travel has made the world so interconnected that a virus can fly from Hong Kong to New York in sixteen hours. And in a day, all kinds of plant seeds, germs, and insects are able to reach most of the world.

 

[Arizona gal]

How can herd immunity even exist as an argument if one does not first know for sure if there is even natural long-term immunity, let alone immunity by way of a vaccination?

My suspicion is that in the long-run it will be like the flu, just having a flu or a flu vaccine is no guarantee you won't get another flu. Every year one needs a new vaccine against the latest and greatest strains. Bad luck if you get a strain you don't have current immunity from.

What does that ultimately mean? Learning to live with it without letting it go totally wild, like we have learned to live with TB, Malaria, HIV etc?
Or does it mean hiding away from a virus that kills a fraction of 1% that it touches (a fraction that seems to be shrinking by the month?)
At least if we focus on learning to live with infection, in parallel to trying to eliminate it, we won't be disappointed or stunted if the vaccines don't end up being the fixer-all, and maybe just maybe, we will be better prepared for the next one after COVID - which if natural history has taught us one thing, there will be a next one.

I agree with you...We live in Phoenix, Arizona, USA and come down in our summers to BA. Unfortunately, stuck here because of Covid. Both my husband & I had Covid this summer. He caught it at the small gym he goes too & brought it home to me. Thank goodness we had somewhat mild symptoms for 10 days. It was wierd because we both had different symptoms. He had loss of appetite, headache & fatigue. I had no taste or smell & nose congestion, mild cough. We are in 60's...He's a "gym rat" & Im high risk. I just got back my "positive' Covid antibody test. But know one knows yet about the re-infection rate....What an odyssey it has been. My Pulmonary doctor said eventually everyone will get it....its just a matter of when.

 

[Rich One]

Well we broke the 10,000 new infections barrier today 10,550 new infections..!

La curva de contagios de coronavirus sigue creciendo: por primera vez se rompió la barrera de los 10 mil casos diarios

Se registraron 10.550 positivos en las últimas 24 horas. La Provincia sumó 6.628 y la Ciudad, 1.568, dos cifras que también son récord.

www.clarin.com

 

[antipodean]

Well we broke the 10,000 new infections barrier today 10,550 new infections..!

La curva de contagios de coronavirus sigue creciendo: por primera vez se rompió la barrera de los 10 mil casos diarios

Se registraron 10.550 positivos en las últimas 24 horas. La Provincia sumó 6.628 y la Ciudad, 1.568, dos cifras que también son récord.

www.clarin.com

So, Axel, Alberto, queridos .... please explain the success of your restrictive policies so that we can better understand what the past 6 months were all about? When exactly is your little curve going to flatten? Coming in now at 11th place with the most cases in the world, most of them concentrated in the province of BA, when exactly are we going to “be Norway” like you promised us?

Reality is a b**** and doesn’t much favor idealists or career politicians who think they can just talk or dictate the virus away.

 

[Renzi]

So, Axel, Alberto, queridos .... please explain the success of your restrictive policies so that we can better understand what the past 6 months were all about? When exactly is your little curve going to flatten? Coming in now at 11th place with the most cases in the world, most of them concentrated in the province of BA, when exactly are we going to “be Norway” like you promised us?

Reality is a b**** and doesn’t much favor idealists or career politicians who think they can just talk or dictate the virus away.

Which medical school did you graduate from?

 

[NeoWonk]

The lockdowns were a big mistake and an economic disaster. Only at-risk populations should have been locked down which would have allowed the general population to develop herd immunity. Without herd immunity in the general population, the at-risk population will be at-risk indefinitely. Economic disaster with bankruptcies for years to come - all for nothing...

Sweden is developing herd immunity, some of the country’s experts claim, but the figures say otherwise

Sweden has an overall COVID-related death rate of 57.12 per 100,000, which is the ninth highest in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University

www.marketwatch.com

 

[antipodean]

Which medical school did you graduate from?

A school that teaches one to question governments and their policies, and not to blindly accept them based on partisan allegiance arising from somewhat vague or one dimensional ideals.

Or is it that once the questions get too difficult to answer and once ones chosen “side” starts to show signs of failure, it’s better to resort to personal attacks or imply questions should not be asked in the first place?

 

[on the brink]

Just read that the Oxford vaccine, the one tested here, will work for six months. Must be reapplied twice a year.

On a related subject:

Which medical school did you graduate from?

I understand that Antipodean got his MD at the Good Horse Sense Medical School. Unfortunately, qualified students are few and far between, and not nearly enough MDs graduate each year.

 

[Wade K.]

Out of curiosity did the 1918 flu pandemic go away from using a vaccine, or did it just go away? Even the Black Death, the Plague, went away eventually in the Middle Ages. Viruses are known to mutate into something milder. I wouldn't give up hope just yet.

 

[on the brink]

Somewhere I read that a virus runs its course in two to four years - eventually, it weakens and dies out. Anyone has hard information on this?