COVID-19 immunity is not just a biological issue. Very soon it is going to become a legal one as well.
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The CoronaSphere Lounge Episode 15: The Immunity Syndrome
COVID-19 immunity is not just a biological issue. Very soon it is going to become a legal one as well.
15 replies on “The CoronaSphere Lounge Episode 15: The Immunity Syndrome”
One thing a lot of people don’t talk about is this: if the economy collapses, people will die because of that. Most of us do not grow our own food. We buy or trade for it.
You scaring me Bill. You are talking like Bill Gates. “We don’t want to spread it again so we need certificates of immunity or vaccination or we can’t go to work or travel.” That is a very totalitarian statement.
The answer is people who are worried can continue to sequester themselves. The rest can get back to work and their routines.
EVERYONE will get this bug. If not now or next month or the following month, it’ll happen. You’re exactly right: Define the bounding cases and aim for something in between.
It will be impossible to stop the spread of this virus. Almost half the carriers are asymptomatic; they do not know they have it or can spread it. We cannot identify them without testing the entire population. We need to control its spread, and that has to be localized not federalized. We need to protect those most vulnerable to serious infections, until we have a medical regimen or a vaccine. Thankfully this virus is lethal to a small group of people and we can identify them easily. The medicine will come well before a vaccine. The medicine will not kill the virus, but it will prevent the descent into pneumonia.
It’s NOT just the death count. It’s the hospitalization, infertility, and permanent lung damage rate, which is much higher.
I’m only 5 minutes in, but from what I’ve heard, people in China are catching the virus and being re-infected literally right after recovering, which would completely destroy the entire argument. Plus, economically incentivizing people to get the virus and be potential spreaders is just idiotic. I think the best bet for lifting the quarantine is mass producing and extending the $20 tri-medicine regimen to even those with moderate symptoms.
I believe you heard wrong. There have been a few cases reported, but these are not re-infections, these are relapses and they happen in small numbers with every virus. This virus is not from Mars.
Bill, the way you used the term “political class” implied a proletariat vs bourgeois division. Don’t forget, we are still a republic. You are neither proletariat nor bourgeois. You are part of the “political class.” Every single American is part of the “political class.” America was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. We are now engaged in a new civil war, testing whether our nation, or any nation so conceived, can long endure. America is still a self-governed (i.e. voluntary) nation and every individual, as part of the body, has the final say in the direction it will go: slavery or freedom. It is up to the people to decide if “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
The obvious way people can get back to work is for our own government to lift the threat of prosecution. Yes, there will be many “Typhoid Mary’s” out and about spreading the virus, but the price of liberty is learning to live dangerously. And mitigating solutions such as masks, soap, hand sanitizers, social distancing etc. must all be VOLUNTARY!
Mr. Spock uttered these words at the end of “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan”: “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” This is all that totalitarians (the Borg) need to rip open the gate to the city of Individualism. Individualism is the cornerstone of the United States Constitution. It was framed on volunteerism not compulsion. That is the nature of a federation of states. The crisis we are now facing is not just losing our lives, it’s losing our individual free will to a system of compulsory demands by our elected, soon to be unelected, few. The more important immunity that individuals need to worry about is their legal immunity. What we have here is an anthropogenic “act of God”; a man-made pestilence. Now, we are faced with a decision of whether the liberties protected by the Bill of Rights has any relevance to our lives.
All I have heard from the left, for decades, has been over-population of the earth…as a naturalist, I suspect that this is Mother Nature culling the herd and she will take, as with all animal species, those are weak, infirm, or lack survival skills…I grew up with the concept that Nature keeps the human herd in check through war, famine, and pestilence….
Helpful Suggestions for Getting the Country Back to Work
I’m going to preface my suggestions by stating unequivocally my full agreement that prolonging the shutdown is very, very, very bad, and we have to restart the economy not just soon, but last week. I fully agree about the lack of perspective, that people are going to die no matter what, etc.
Getting back to work will be a multi-pronged approach:
1. Keep at-risk populations in isolation. Data will show a hierarchy of risk factors, starting with age but including specific underlying health conditions, not just heart and lung diseases, but obesity, smoking, and other conditions.
2. Let younger and apparently healthier people go out, continuing to wash hands, etc. Introduce the idea of wearing basic surgical masks or scarves to protect others, not yourself.
3. Encourage companies to continue to promote social distancing where possible (working from home, having multiple shifts so that fewer people are in the office, meeting online instead of in person, etc.).
4. Prepare for a surge in critically ill patients by stocking up on hospital capacity, PPE, ventilators, and the drugs that are working.
5. Continue testing aggressively and crank out the antibody tests and studies (they’re supposed to be ready now or within just a few days). Verify herd immunity (or not) ASAP.
6. First release the regions that have already peaked, or rural areas, or less densely populated areas, or regions without large surges.
I have been watching the White House briefings every day. I have heard several cabinet members, agency heads, the Vice President, and the President, say things regularly that suggest to me that they are very aware of this problem and are determined to open things up as fast as possible. The President has even made comments about creative solutions like opening up by region. I fully expect the President to announce a rolling opening as soon as the surge prep catches up with the data, which they are evaluating hourly.
At last, someone who is also watching and understanding these task force briefings….
Not quite on topic, but concerning what we call this thing… I have been making a point of calling it the China virus. I realize that this is politically incorrect, and I certainly don’t want to cause the persecution of the ordinary Chinese subject, or those American with Chinese ancestry. Therefore, I think I’m going to begin to call it the Chi-Com virus, because I think that is the truest description of the cause of this.
The president has returned to calling it the Wuhan Virus….as that was the actual specific source…versus the term “China Virus” which was to clearly indicate that it came from China, as most of these viruses do…
Exactly!
People who have supposedly been reinfected, may have merely had a relapse.
At some point the rate of infection will begin to slow. Then I think they will just have to open up things, and treat this like we treat the seasonal flu, which is to say that each individual is ultimately responsible for him/her self, and their own families.
My daughter, her husband and one of the granddaughters came down with the China virus two and a half weeks ago and are on the mend. I find myself envying their impending freedom. Unfortunately, the other Granddaughter had just begun to get symptoms a few days ago. I am not happy about it, but she is young, will recover, and gain her freedom. I feel bad for her now, but in about two weeks, I will be envying her, too.