What should we do with the antibody info when it becomes widely available?

[LAS14]

Will we have two classes of citizens? Those who can go to work and feed their families, and those who aren't allowed to? When will it stop? Some people can't work until a vaccine is available in 18 months?

What would be a good plan?

tia
las

[Chainfire]

1. Of course

and share it with your health insurance provider.

By the way, I will be providing the new "health cards", via my Chinese subsidiary, on Amazon and Ebay. A man has gotta make a buck....

[BusyBeingBest]

2. We are going to have to transition to a model wherein

the at-risk populations must isolate themselves and the rest of us must go back out there, antibodies or not. Remember that when all this started they were just trying to SLOW the spread of the disease so as not to have another Italy with an overwhelmed medical system. They were talking weeks. Not months or years. Weeks. At some point you have to cautiously resume normalcy, and maybe if there's a state or local hotspot, then stay-at-home orders/no travel in or out orders have to be declared by governors/mayors for three week increments.

[LAS14]

5. I totally agree. But when I posted such an idea I got big blow back.

But I really would like to know if my children and grandchildren have immunity. It would be so great to hug them.

[BusyBeingBest]

7. Yes, people here are very resistant to the idea that at some point, you're going to

have to stop sheltering in place, especially if you have to earn a living. Our current government really will let people starve, so it's not even a real choice for many, and most of us are not going to choose to give up our livelihoods and suspend our own civil liberties indefinitely out of fear of this disease, UNLESS you are elderly/at-risk.

And even then, my own parents are in their late 70's with some underlying health conditions (like most their age) and THEY would choose to get back out there sooner rather than later, because they figure they've got to die of something and don't want to spend what may be their last months or years holed up and isolated.

Once most communities and states flatten the curve, we can start getting back out there, and local/state governments should monitor hospital capacities and caseloads, and do widespread testing, and be prepared to shut down any region that sees a big resurgence.

[Liberal In Texas]

8. Well, I'll tell you that THIS 70 year old isn't "getting back out there" until

there is a vaccine that is safe and reliable. Frankly I don't feel like "the die of something" thing I would choose would be a horrible pneumonia that would take days or weeks of suffering. I'll stay holed up and get everything via delivery or pick-up until that happens.

People who start getting bored and want to "get back to normal" are going to risk dying themselves and risk spreading death to others.

[BusyBeingBest]

9. I understand, and that is your choice in the long term--but you can't expect

the people in this country who are under 50 and healthy, and MUST work for a living, and MUST figure out a way to school their children, and MUST buy a car, etc. to completely halt their own lives for people who are retirement age. Those over 50/60 have to understand that life goes on, with or without them. I am 50, I'm not 100% confident in how well I'd beat this disease, but we can't shut down forever, and the burden of protection for the vulnerable is going to have to fall more on the vulnerable (and their families) as time goes on, if only out of sheer economic and societal necessity, until they can be vaccinated. I fully agree with shutting everything down for a time as resurgences occur so as not to overwhelm medical systems, but this near-total standstill is just not feasible for more than a couple months.

[Igel]

10. If you're 70 and retired you can pretty much stay fairly isolated.

Notice that doesn't mean stay at home.

My brother's grandmother belonged to some Italian group. She'd meet every few weeks, they were all her age.

That would also count as "isolated", if using a car (or a special bus for senior citizens--they had them there).

It's looking--so far, so subject to revision--that transmission through objects is low to non-existent. People who like to fear and panic fear and panic over it, wiping down surfaces is a nice precaution if you don't overdo it, but still it looks like if the occasional possibly-infected person transits through a safe-space an hour later it's back to being safe.

So you don't need to get back out there.

But you'll be relying for your existence on those who do. Food. Water. Electricity. Health care and any medicines you need. Other things like clothing.

The risk for those up to 55 is low. For those under 30, very, very low. Lower than for the flu. For those around 60 it's something like 0.5% death rate--lower, given the undercount in cases--die from this. That not 5 in a 100, that 5 in a 1000. Bad to be one of the 5 (but remember, it's likely to be less, and possibly down to 0.05 ... which is flu-level death rates, by the way). It's the over 65-crowd that's more at risk, and there the risk soars. But they're also the ones least likely to need to work or go to school.

It would be hard on them, being cooped up. But if the alternative is everybody or just them ...

[rzemanfl]

3. The fact that Fauci even brought this up makes me think he has been

co-opted to appease the Orange Anus. It made me think of a thread I posted when this first began-

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213037109

I fear young people might decide to roll the dice.

[Igel]

11. There aren't good alternatives.

Mostly we sit around and say that Trump should have done things we objected to earlier, things that almost certainly wouldn't have worked, or tried things that we'd have gone ballistic over.

Or things that are impossible. Poof! 1.2 billion test kits with a 0% error rate.

We can stay doing this until there's a vaccine. In 12 months we'd double the national debt that we complained so much about Trump's adding a mere $1 trillion to, and be looking at massive recovery times to get out of the $1 trillion dollar debt range--even as, before any Trump was in evidence, the CBO was projecting a $1 trillion deficit because of increased entitlement spending (no fear--it's because of people retiring, not just increased per person costs).

We let people out without serological testing, secure that only a certain percentage will die, and dial things back when the hospitalization rate increases. Lots of little peaks instead of one big peak.

We let some of those out, but with serological testing know that a lot of people can return to work without limits. Yes, they could carry the virus on their persons. No, that has yet to be shown to cause even 0.1% of the cases. What's left is the formidable foe foundless fomite fear.

Young people roll the dice every year. Their death rate is about the same as for the flu. If you're over 65 the rate soars, and it pulls up the average. Straitjacketing the young so that the older population isn't singled out for stay-at home is punishing them for something they're not responsible for--while still punishing the older population.

But not to worry--I think a lot of younger people will take some convincing. Polls typically show that millennials, for instance, are overwhelmingly convinced they'd die from COVID if they got infected. Yeah, a 0.1% risk, but that would knock out close to 70% of them. (Correct answer: Each should think there's a 0.1% risk of death. They're just off by factor of 700.)

[rzemanfl]

12. Did you read the thread I linked to?

I am concerned about chicken pox parties and lollipops turning in to corona virus parties with passed joints or whatever. If people start getting exposed deliberately in order to "get on with their lives" what will that do? I know there are no good alternatives.

We might not have been happy with what might have been done, but the nation-state of California (the Governor's words, not mine) seems to have gotten it close to right. Drumpf destroyed the mechanisms that at least might have helped and is now posturing like the flaming asshole he is. I had to look up fomite-I am far more afraid of people than I am of inanimate objects, but I still let the mail sit for a day before anyone touches it, wipe down groceries, wear a mask when I am out, gloves in the store, etc.

You seem to have put a lot of thought into your opinions. I feel I have been lied to so much for so long that I don't believe anything I hear from any branch of government.

[forthemiddle]

4. What's the alternative?

If we can identify those with antibodies, should we still make them remain in quarantine just so those without don’t feel slighted?

We cannot have our lockdown go on for up to 2 years until a vaccine is developed and made available.

[rzemanfl]

13. You did not read the thread I linked to in my post. I have to wash socks. BBL

[Goodheart]

6. I'm going to pin a big scarlett "A" on my chest and walk around in public.