My brother's roommate (they live in NYC) tested positive back in March. They both ended up with it (obviously) as did much of his apartment building. He called me right away, all freaked-out... I told him to stay in his apartment, order in his dinner, and wait it out. Nobody died. My brother didn't notice any substantial symptoms (his words "Like I barely had a cold"). I recently asked him if he'd heard any reports of anyone 're-getting' it. He thought about it for two days, and answered that he had heard of none.
Of course, at the time, they were doing basically 'no' structured testing... so while you were hearing grave numbers of respirator shortages and wailing and gnashing of teeth by politicians and media, there were probably hundreds of thousands quietly waiting it through it's course, within their dwellings, while some others ignored it and wandered about to share it with others.
The part about statistics and 'testing' is very much true- if we did no testing, the 'numbers' would go down. If we do more testing, the 'numbers' will go up.
So what's the 'reality'? It is that
1) we cannot inherently 'see' it 2) we cannot tell wether or not we have, and are carrying it until after we've had it for a while... 3) Logistics, staffing, and circumstances are insufficient to keep up 4) statisticians are looking at data which is mostly inaccurate...
5) Media tools are cherry-picking what they WANT to see, to support some agenda
Thus... we are naturally 'behind' the 8-ball at all points.
Proactive measures, considering we cannot 'see' this, is pretty basic...
1) Avoid circumstances where transmission vectors exist...
2) Apply the best protective policies to prevent becoming a part of the vector
And also, keep in mind:
3) MOST PEOPLE won't be substantially affected... they'll get it, and get over it.
4) Those that ARE MOST SUSCEPTIBLE to serious problems must be protected.
In my opinion... based on all this:
If most people get it, and aren't affected... and If my brother's observation of nobody re-getting it is accurate to general population
Then a herd-immunity solution is the shortest course to result.
What is Herd Immunity?
It's a biological buffer. Let's say you're elderly, and in a nursing home with 120 others who, many would not survive an encounter. The town in which your facility is, consists of about 3600 people.
Let's say that everyone ELSE in the town around you has had this virus, and gotten over it, and as a result, most of them, including the facility staff, will have antibody response that prevents them from getting it again.
At that point, the facility will be in an 'insular' state... it will be surrounded, and serviced by a barrier of people who will not be part of a transmission vector into the facility.
Everyone has had a cold, and the flu. Many of us have had chickenpox, mumps, measles... many of the olders remember polio.
Once youv'e been through these things, they're mostly defeated as a result of immune process. There are side-effects to ANY virus, and Chickenpox has the most well-known- Shingles. We can't stop that. We also can't stop many of the other Herpes variations (Who HASn'T experienced a cold sore?)... they're all virsuses.
Viruses aren't alive. They're constantly changing, and while they don't last long under some circumstances, they can last extremely long under others.
There's literally millions of viruses which we're in continuous contact. Most affect plants, bacteria, and fungi. Smaller amounts affect animals, and only a scant amount have effect on people. Corona viruses have been documented in existance for over 5000 years, this strain would likely have gone unnoticed in comparison to many of the other afflictions that've run through human history.
An immunologist friend of mine who is also an anthropologist (they go hand-in-hand) a strange thought that I cannot take credit for, but it was a well-made point:
We are at a point in history where the knee-jerk reaction is to blame ALL CAUSES OF DEATH that are NOT directly related to some incident, where ANY circumstance of sickness is present, to be the result of COVID-19. At that same time, ANY DEATH which occurs, REGARDLESS of wether the individual HAS the virus or not, but while there is high focus on COVID-19, will be labeled by statisticians as a 'result of COVID-19'.
(Example: A little old lady falls while walking her pug. They take her to the hospital, but no doctors can work on her, as the ICU is packed with COVID cases, and they're stuck with very limited staff... and she dies of internal bleeding while waiting.
IF we can hold off this virus long enough for all the susceptible people to live out their lives and die of something ELSE FIRST... then this virus will NOT be blamed for their death, right?
I realize that the very nature of this forum makes it a predominantly older, and thus more susceptible demographic than say... forums for surfing, skateboarding, and hip-hop music.
I am very happy to inform all of you that when reading and responding to this forum, hundreds, possibly thousands of your friends, from all over the US, Canada, Australia, and other places, will be, on average, only 16 to 20" away from you at any given moment, yet you will be TOTALLY SAFE from receiving or transmitting ALMOST ANY disease, regardless of wether it's a virual or bacterial infection. You will be entirely isolated from the gaseous exhudance of beans, the unknowing sharing of anti-seize, and the stray of blood from cuts and scrapes.
There's only one thing that you'd risk sharing here: Old Iron Syndrome. Particularly Orange Tractor Disease.
Unfortunately, you're already here, so you're screwed... but the worst fact, is that it's FATAL... TERMINAL... It'll last forever. For some of us, the end might come in a few years, mebbie a dozen... others of us may survive with it for another two, mebbie three decades.
Bow your heads and pray with me:
Lord, have pity upon our Orange (and other colors... because All Tractors Matter) community, that are young, who acquired it at an early age, and thus doomed to suffer this terrible affliction, who will fight it for a half-century or more, before being able to join the rest of us in holding up the daisies when we receive thy blessings of rusty tears beneath the tractors of our eternal fencerows....
------------- Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest.
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