I have a simple message for you today: Covid-19 is here to stay.
You have to adapt to this fact without locking yourself in your apartment or house.
You need to stop being so afraid that you are paranoid, and yet take science based precautions as you venture out into the world. Yes, there will be risks, but the reality is life is always risky. This is just a new risk that we have to get used to. And we will get used to it. However, it does mean that our lives are changed, permanently. Into what exactly, I have no idea. Sadly, you can be assured that this virus will continue to predominantly kill people who are older/immune compromised, but the unfortunate truth is that current diseases like the flu already do so. The only difference is a matter of degree – Covid-19 is much more deadly. Below are some excerpts from articles making this point followed by some ways that individuals and society can adapt to this new risk. I wish we had done what Australia and New Zealand did, but we didn’t. And now we are reaping the results.
If there was ever a time when this coronavirus could be contained, it has probably passed
One outcome is now looking almost certain: This virus is never going away. The coronavirus is simply too widespread and too transmissible. The most likely scenario, experts say, is that the pandemic ends at some point—because enough people have been either infected or vaccinated—but the virus continues to circulate in lower levels around the globe. Cases will wax and wane over time. Outbreaks will pop up here and there. Even when a much-anticipated vaccine arrives, it is likely to only suppress but never completely eradicate the virus.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/08/coronavirus-will-never-go-away/614860/
Once they emerge, diseases rarely leave
Whether bacterial, viral or parasitic, virtually every disease pathogen that has affected people over the last several thousand years is still with us, because it is nearly impossible to fully eradicate them. The only disease that has been eradicated through vaccination is smallpox. Mass vaccination campaigns led by the World Health Organization in the 1960s and 1970s were successful, and in 1980, smallpox was declared the first — and still, the only — human disease to be fully eradicated. https://globalnews.ca/news/7400924/when-will-the-coronavirus-pandemic-end/
Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?
Reinfection, in which an individual is subject to multiple, distinct infections from the same virus species throughout their lifetime, is a salient feature of many respiratory viruses. Indeed, the persistence and ubiquity in human society of common respiratory viruses—including influenza viruses, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), rhinovirus, and the endemic coronaviruses—are largely due to their ability to produce repeat infection. Since the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a critical concern has been whether humans will experience reinfections with this pathogen, which might enable it to become endemic.
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/370/6516/527
Scientists Are Increasingly Bracing For The Possibility That COVID-19 May Never Go Away
At the outset of the pandemic, one of the most troubling scenarios discussed by some epidemiologists was the ability for COVID-19 to become endemic, or in other words, a recurring virus that circulates in humans. There are currently four known coronaviruses that regularly infect people, mostly causing common-cold type symptoms but on rare occasions, pneumonia, and even death. The question was whether this latest new virus would mark the fifth endemic coronavirus, a development that would influence how policymakers wage their battle against COVID-19. Now, two scientists at Columbia University are renewing the debate just as a second wave threatens to take hold across Europe and in the Northeast United States. In an ominous sign, infection rates in New Jersey and Connecticut recently became high enough for them to qualify for New York’s 14-day quarantine criteria for out-of-state travelers. In a new article published last week in the journal Science, public health researchers Jeffrey Shaman and Marta Galanti detail the precise circumstances in which coronavirus becomes an enduring public health problem. https://gothamist.com/news/scientists-are-increasingly-bracing-possibility-covid-19-may-never-go-away
So what can you do?
Obviously, keep your immune system as strong as possible.
Take Vitamin D. Exercise. Sleep enough. Exercise outside every day.
Stay out of buildings with poor air circulation.
Avoid “high risk” situations if you are older or immune compromised.
Get vaccinated!
What can Governments do?
First and foremost stop new Covid cases and especially new variants from entering the country by having people be tested before they come and also quarantine once they arrive, even if they test negative.
Improve indoor air quality in all public buildings so the virus is not concentrated. You can that there is enough fresh air by the ppm of carbon dioxide; to reduce the risk of infection it should be below 800 ppm. https://paulbeckwith.net/
Have 15 minute saliva tests available everywhere where there are high risk situations, like old age homes or food processing plant, to test anybody entering the home either every time or regularly, depending upon the situation.
Promote public health so there are fewer people with diabetes or obesity issues, as these put this group at a higher risk.
The list goes on…
Part II – The Political Implications of Covid-19: Is there a Case for the Increased Powers for the State?
“In China, if the government decides to do something, it is done. It is not like in Spain or the United States where there can be debate about confinements and closures. Everybody obeys. There are advantages and disadvantages of dictatorships, but in public health clearly the policy is much more consistent,” Dr. Lipkin said.
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