chrisser wrote:
May be in the minority, but at least I'm consistent. I've been saying the same thing since April.
Give me the virus. I'm in my early 50s, in good health. I can schedule 14 days off, be sick on my terms and be done with it. If I have a bad reaction, then we won't have to waste time testing for Covid because we'll know where it came from. We can schedule it when there are plenty of ICU beds just in case. Could have done this in the summer where there's plenty of sun (vitamin-d) and no chance of weather-related complications.
If I get it now, it will be unplanned, I'll probably end up spreading it before I get diagnosed, we're in the middle of winter with lots of other bugs going around, my immune system is low and it's cold and wet outside. Plus, with the holidays, it's likely it would get spread by me even further. And I could have another cold or the flu at the same time. And now I'm cooped up inside with the windows closed so my wife would almost definitely get it at the same time.
Granted, this type of action wouldn't apply to everyone. But just think how much further we'd be along towards herd immunity if we had just done a controlled infection of the healthy these last nine months.
It wouldn't work well if your wish came true. We don't know the exact percentage of people who die from COVID-19 because it is underreported as a cause of death here in the USA, and throughout the world.
Let's just guess that it's 1% of people who fall ill. So, we have roughly 280,000,000 people in the USA. To get to herd immunity we need at least 70% (some say 75%) of the population to be infected. That's 196,000,000 people. If 1% of them die that's 196,000,000 x 0.01 = 1,960,000 folks - almost 2M.
I hope you feel that's too high a price to pay. Especially, since we could have likely held the number of deaths to less than 200,000 if strict public health measures would have been observed from February of 2020. That would be a difference of 1,960,000 - 200,000 = 1,760,000 souls from worst case to best case. Don't you think a little self-sacrifice for 12 months would be worth 1.75M+ lives? I bet you do.
Besides, probably someone you know and love would have been in that 1,960,000 total. And, please think about this. In the herd immunity case our healthcare system would have been
beyond overwhelmed. Many people would have gotten zero care. The 1% death rate in that case is likely optimistic.
Merry Christmas. Count your blessings. That's what I'm doing anyway.
Cheers,
It's the only way.
We are dispensing the virus today as I type this. It does not provide immunity - it just lessons the symptoms and provides some antibodies, but not enough to guarantee you won't catch it. You still have to take the same precautions (PPE, distancing, unemployment) as before.
I hate to break this to you, but Covid is hugely overreported as a cause of death, especially in the U.S. where hospital compensation is driven by the diagnosis. We're at 99% recovery rate with everything from gunshot wound to flu deaths being attributed to Covid. We didn't cure the flu or heart disease or diabetes over the last nine months but that's what the numbers would say. The actual death rate is likely far less than 1% for anyone healthy and under 70. I'm not saying it is not unpleasant, but it certainly isn't the black death. Most people will either be asymptomatic or have the same symptoms as a bad cold or flu and then they'll be done.
Those who are in danger of worse are at risk. Of covid, of the flu, of pneumonia, of chicken pox, of any number of other diseases. They should be very careful.