Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

yeah, this is why we have trouble slowing the spread. Sheer ingorance. Lawmaker trying to rest on the unproven theory of herd stupidity.

GOP state lawmaker says he would like 'to see more people' get coronavirus to build herd immunity

 

So you think we will figure a way to eradicate this virus? Or will we manage it like we do other viruses?

 

Look at any other advanced country in the world. They have all stopped or substantially slowed the spread of the virus. We will have more deaths today than South Korea, an early hotspot for the disease, has had for its entire run there.

 

True but has any coronavirus ever been eradicated? I think we may be living with this for a while, if not forever.

 

scientific proof? Yearly flu called and said hello.

 

Again, I don't want to defend the inept leadership in NYC.
But it's the responsibility of the federal government to guide states in global issues like this.

Trump announced on January 22nd that the federal govt had it totally under control. That was about 20 days after he became aware it could become an issue.
February 9th, the coronavirus task force meets with governors. Governors left that meeting very concerned by the federal response. A few days later, we learn that current testing is unreliable.
By February 20th, only 3 of 100+ state labs were testing for Covid-19 and only about 60 tests a day in the US were being administered.
On Feb 22nd the federal government asks states to only test people with severe cases, despite information that many people could be asymptomatic. The same day a new york resident gets sick, leading to a massive outbreak in New York. NOTE THAT THE FEDERAL GOVT HAD YET TO CALL FOR SOCIAL DISTANCING AT THIS TIME.
February 24th, Trump says, the Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA
February 28th - Govt announces they will increase testing and hope to have testing in every state by early March. By this time, the early outbreak in NYC is well underway, we just don't know it yet.
March 2 - Pence admits it is now about mitigation and not containment.
March 9th - Trump says the country doesn't shut down for the Flu.
March 10th - New York state sets up a one-mile containment zone around New Rochelle, where the first outbreak started, and announces large gatherings should be canceled for 14 days. This is without federal govt guidance on social distancing.
March 13th - Trump declares a national emergency. Too late for NYC.
March 16th - federal government finally announces that we should practice social distancing. At this point the US is still only testing about 7000 people per day.


OK, so I show you all of that to illustrate how the federal govt provided very little testing, and very little support to the states until it was too late. By the time the federal government had suggested social distancing NYC was already in the grips of a pandemic. I IN NO WAY, suggest that the NYC leadership did a good job with it, but they received at best, very little guidance, and at worst, were convinced it was not an issue, by those in charge at the federal level.

 

Eradication seems unlikely at this point, given the spread, but we can probably contain it and live with it with effective vaccination. Really, we have no choice but to live with it anymore. That's the sad truth.

 

Small pox says hello.

 

Michael Levitt - I don't know if this was posted already.

U.S. data fits this model.

 

Can you show us?

 

Thanks for clearing that up for others.
I understand all of your points.
I know there has been a lot of conjecture about getting Covid more than once and have scoured articles for the incidence of this, not much there where some has gotten it twice. It's no guarantee however its far less likely to cause severe illness if you have antibodies. If that wasn't true then a vaccine would be a worthless endeavor.

 

That's wise of him.

 

Good job let’s keep everyone quarantined for a few decades as we work on a vaccine that’s safe. Oh and smallpox is THE only virus to ever be eradicated and for very special reasons.

Smallpox: The Most Talked About Eradicated Disease | Viruses101 | Learn Science at Scitable
The process of eradicating smallpox was long and complicated, requiring the coordinated efforts of people around the globe. Not every disease can be eradicated; it just so happened that smallpox has many characteristics that lend ease to eradication. The incubation period, the time between initial infection and visible symptoms, is relatively short, which prevents the disease from spreading undetected. The symptoms are also very distinctive, allowing for easy identification of smallpox patients. The World Health Organization put in place a "ring vaccination" method whereby vaccines weren't given only to infected people, but also to anyone who may have been exposed to an infected person. "Ring vaccination" effectively hindered the mass spread of smallpox since officials were able to isolate and treat affected areas early. In remote areas, World Health Organization workers tracked down infected persons by showing locals pictures of people with smallpox symptoms and asking if they had seen anyone with them.

Luckily for humans, smallpox only infects us. The lack of of an animal reservoir really aided in eradicating the disease.

 

NYC is just starting to really reopen... Give it 6 weeks.

 

I just listed one virus. Also a HUGE difference between control and eradication.
We control SARS, MERS, Ebola, Whooping cough (just got a TDAP for my new baby), mumps, measles, rubella, and on and on and on

Some of these we manage with vaccines, others we manage with public health and epidemiological approaches like contact tracing, wearing masks (much more common in asian countries) etc.

So yes, to your original post, YES, we can contain the spread of viruses.

 

We control viruses after many years of studies, trail and error, and unfortunately many sick and dead.

So no, we cannot stop coronavirus as I said. Unless everyone is willing to stay locked down for many more months, new cases will happen.

guess what, sometime in the future there will be a new virus that will cause us harm that we will have to figure out again.

 

Had we taken defensive actions more quickly and done more testing in February I doubt it would be as bad right now. Also had we been more conservative in reopening things also wouldn't be as bad.

We could have managed this process way better, and managed the situation way better, but both our government, the politicization of the virus, and the stubbornness of our own people have prevented that.

Trying to wave that away by saying we could have never controlled this is just plain wrong.

 

What if the rest of the world eradicates it but the U.S. doesn't? Much of the rest of the world has almost done it. The epicenter in Italy just had their first day with ZERO cases in the hospital since the outbreak began.

We'll be treated like North Korea. Nobody will want to come here, nobody will accept our visitors for fears of Americans spreading the virus. Is our destiny to be the new isolated hermit kingdom?

Thanks Trump.