The reality is that we really don’t know what long term implications of covid are. And countries that let covid run wild are running a giant experiment on their populations. This is a huge gamble that could have catastrophic results in the long term.
It’s also not possible to put the genie back in the bottle now that most people are sick of restrictions and refuse to take any measures. So, even if it becomes clear that measures need to be taken, there is no longer a path towards doing that.
We know that it’s possible for people to be reinfected with covid, and that both vaccines and natural immunity wane after around six months. We’ve been seeing rolling waves of the pandemic throughout the world because of that. Covid isn’t just a respiratory virus, it can attack many organs, including heart, liver, and the brain. Each time you get covid it’s like playing a roulette, and eventually you’re likely going to get long covid.
A very likely outcome is that a significant portion of the population will become disabled in some way, will not be able to fully participate in the workforce, and will put a large strain on the healthcare system. So, even if people don’t care about the human cost associated with the suffering caused by the pandemic, they should worry about the severe economic cost.
In light of all that, China’s approach seems like the only sane approach to take. It’s clearly been paying off for them and I hope they stick with it.
We know that it’s possible for people to be reinfected with covid, and that both vaccines and natural immunity wane after around six months
Naturally immunity won’t fade if we’re constantly exposed to covid, aka under the current american system, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was constant exposure
It’s a natural selection arms race between human immune system and the virus though. As the immune system learns to identify existing variants, we start seeing new variants evolve that get around that.
I get what you’re saying, but you might not get what i’m saying:
For simplification, lets say covid evolution goes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, […] 100 where 100 is a new variant and 1 is the og covid. Lets say covid evolves from 1 to 2 over a 1 week period.
If you’re exposed to 1 you become infected then immune for 6 months. When you’re exposed to 2, it’s basically 1 but it renews your immunity. If you’re exposed to a new number each week (1, 2, 3, 4 etc 99) by the time 100 comes out, you’d have maintained immunity and your 6 month antibodies.
It does, but the problem is that each sufficiently divergent variant is effectively a whole new pandemic. Your immunity only works for variants that are similar enough for your immune system to recognize. Furthermore, there is a chance that new variants can cause new kinds of damage to the body.
That’s now how it works in practice. Viruses can easily change in ways that make existing immunity worthless as we saw with omicron. Furthermore, viruses often recombine with other viruses. This isn’t a simple linear progression.
The reality is that we really don’t know what long term implications of covid are. And countries that let covid run wild are running a giant experiment on their populations. This is a huge gamble that could have catastrophic results in the long term.
It’s also not possible to put the genie back in the bottle now that most people are sick of restrictions and refuse to take any measures. So, even if it becomes clear that measures need to be taken, there is no longer a path towards doing that.
We know that it’s possible for people to be reinfected with covid, and that both vaccines and natural immunity wane after around six months. We’ve been seeing rolling waves of the pandemic throughout the world because of that. Covid isn’t just a respiratory virus, it can attack many organs, including heart, liver, and the brain. Each time you get covid it’s like playing a roulette, and eventually you’re likely going to get long covid.
A very likely outcome is that a significant portion of the population will become disabled in some way, will not be able to fully participate in the workforce, and will put a large strain on the healthcare system. So, even if people don’t care about the human cost associated with the suffering caused by the pandemic, they should worry about the severe economic cost.
In light of all that, China’s approach seems like the only sane approach to take. It’s clearly been paying off for them and I hope they stick with it.
Naturally immunity won’t fade if we’re constantly exposed to covid, aka under the current american system, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was constant exposure
It’s a natural selection arms race between human immune system and the virus though. As the immune system learns to identify existing variants, we start seeing new variants evolve that get around that.
I get what you’re saying, but you might not get what i’m saying:
For simplification, lets say covid evolution goes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, […] 100 where 100 is a new variant and 1 is the og covid. Lets say covid evolves from 1 to 2 over a 1 week period.
If you’re exposed to 1 you become infected then immune for 6 months. When you’re exposed to 2, it’s basically 1 but it renews your immunity. If you’re exposed to a new number each week (1, 2, 3, 4 etc 99) by the time 100 comes out, you’d have maintained immunity and your 6 month antibodies.
Make sense what i’m saying?
It does, but the problem is that each sufficiently divergent variant is effectively a whole new pandemic. Your immunity only works for variants that are similar enough for your immune system to recognize. Furthermore, there is a chance that new variants can cause new kinds of damage to the body.
yeah. But if you’re under constant exposure to covid as it evolves, no variant will be new to the body, since 99 and 100 are bsaically the same
That’s now how it works in practice. Viruses can easily change in ways that make existing immunity worthless as we saw with omicron. Furthermore, viruses often recombine with other viruses. This isn’t a simple linear progression.
you mean NOT* how it?
yeah accidentally a word :)