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Originally Posted by Maruzo
But I just think it is very counter productive having part of the population doing exactly what they damn well please, ignoring all social distancing guidelines, not wearing protective gears, and encouraging others to do the same.
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I guess it depends on what the goal is. If herd immunity (60-80% infected and recovered) is the goal. Perhaps it's not the worst idea. And herd immunity with this virus might not even be a thing. It's just too new still. We are getting conflicting studies all the time regarding efficacy of treatments under trials. Now many strains there are. How deadly one is vs another. And whether you can be reinfected. The ultimate question might be how long will individuals tolerate a lockdown (I think that limit is being reached) and how long it will take to get a vaccine, if ever. I don't think we can switch the economy on and off until we have a vaccine. Even if I agree it were the best way to proceed, the American public couldn't take that. And it's debatable whether the economy could survive it too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maruzo
Not to mention the government still lagging behind on their efforts to provide sufficient testing for all the population, and execute fast and detailed contact tracing.
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The war analogy was a mistake by our politicians. That's not what this is at all. Unless we are admitting it was unleashed intentionally by whatever country it originated from. Very American though to dub it a war. It's most likely either something that was accidentally released from a research lab or a naturally occurring viral mutation.
I agree we aren't testing enough. But I don't think we'll ever be able to test enough. Or it will take such a long time to get to that point that it may be a moot point.
It's really a horrible situation to be in for all involved, the entire world. But perhaps our hubris at being able to control every aspect of our domain is being challenged? We just might not have the resources to control a pandemic and it will have to run its course as previous ones have until a vaccine is reached. I don't have the answer obviously, no one does, and only history will show if control was possible and bungled. Or, if it teaches us a lesson that we weren't prepared in the first place for something like this (I'm leaning this way) and that bringing manufacturing back home, socializing health care, having a more coordinated Federal/State action effort is needed. All of those are highly political "footballs" and I am not advocating (in this thread) one way or the other. Just that our politicians, on both sides of the aisle, are going to have some soul searching to do.