I was reading an article last night in Science Magazine (an actual science journal, with peer-reviewed information presented in a fact-based manner, without sensationalism, and no bobble head trying to tell you what to think) about the way the coronavirus has mutated and what that means going forward.
To summarize one key point, there is no belief among scientists that there is - or will be - any sort of permanent immunity. That eliminates any thoughts of herd immunity or that this can simply run its course. Nope, this will not go away. Unless, as they say, we get really lucky and it mutates in a way that would mostly neuter it. Or until we come up with a vaccine (which, again, likely will be a temporary thing, more like a flu shot that will need an annual booster).
So if we listen to science, then we understand things. There is a very real danger in this virus. And people who continue to spout nonsense saying stupid things like "its not that bad" or "its a hoax" or "there's no real risk, we should just get back to life as we knew it" are missing the point.
They are putting us all at risk. And the person who sits in the Oval Office isn't doing us any favors either.
Look, we can still find a way to fight this virus, AND return to a semblance of normal. Want to know what we can do? Two things. First, and foremost, there should be a national policy of mask wearing. That's a no brainer that's really easy, and if it was presented as a way to prevent the spread, maybe people would listen.
The second is a government action. And its to provide enough testing to actual understand the spread and do more in areas where outbreaks occur, but allow life to go on a little in areas that don't have an uptick in cases.
If I look at Florida, we have 67 counties. Lets say you put 100 testing centers in each county, that's 6,700 testing centers. If we assume that all states are the same, you're talking about 335,000 nationwide. Sure, some places won't need as many, and you could fill in with other types of testing (hospitals and clinics, etc) to fill in. But make them all just available 7 days a week for anyone that wants to get tested. And for free.
You'd need a central repository for information of course, but why not work with a big player in the tech space to develop something relatively quickly to use. There would be a cost, and additional sites to review the results - and that will be whatever it is, but think about the money "wasted' in the PPP and other things - surely this would be less costly and give you a bigger benefit.
You could create a team whose job it is to do followups and contact tracing - someone tests positive, lets take the time to figure out who they came into contact with and get as many of them tested as we can. (hey, look, in some cases you're putting people to work).
What would happen? People might go and get tested anytime they feel sick. They'd be likely to go back and tested again later. We could be testing for the virus and antibodies. We could be looking at the long-term effects of exposure. And of course, we'd get better, faster, and more efficient with the testing over time.
If you tag it to drivers license or phone number or something, you would be able to easily keep track of everyone and their progress.
I mean, its going to be hard to setup, but you might actually start coming up with better means of testing, of getting good information that tells you something about the virus.
Its really fairly "simple" on the surface. Its logical. Makes sense.
And that's exactly why we'll never do it.
To summarize one key point, there is no belief among scientists that there is - or will be - any sort of permanent immunity. That eliminates any thoughts of herd immunity or that this can simply run its course. Nope, this will not go away. Unless, as they say, we get really lucky and it mutates in a way that would mostly neuter it. Or until we come up with a vaccine (which, again, likely will be a temporary thing, more like a flu shot that will need an annual booster).
So if we listen to science, then we understand things. There is a very real danger in this virus. And people who continue to spout nonsense saying stupid things like "its not that bad" or "its a hoax" or "there's no real risk, we should just get back to life as we knew it" are missing the point.
They are putting us all at risk. And the person who sits in the Oval Office isn't doing us any favors either.
Look, we can still find a way to fight this virus, AND return to a semblance of normal. Want to know what we can do? Two things. First, and foremost, there should be a national policy of mask wearing. That's a no brainer that's really easy, and if it was presented as a way to prevent the spread, maybe people would listen.
The second is a government action. And its to provide enough testing to actual understand the spread and do more in areas where outbreaks occur, but allow life to go on a little in areas that don't have an uptick in cases.
If I look at Florida, we have 67 counties. Lets say you put 100 testing centers in each county, that's 6,700 testing centers. If we assume that all states are the same, you're talking about 335,000 nationwide. Sure, some places won't need as many, and you could fill in with other types of testing (hospitals and clinics, etc) to fill in. But make them all just available 7 days a week for anyone that wants to get tested. And for free.
You'd need a central repository for information of course, but why not work with a big player in the tech space to develop something relatively quickly to use. There would be a cost, and additional sites to review the results - and that will be whatever it is, but think about the money "wasted' in the PPP and other things - surely this would be less costly and give you a bigger benefit.
You could create a team whose job it is to do followups and contact tracing - someone tests positive, lets take the time to figure out who they came into contact with and get as many of them tested as we can. (hey, look, in some cases you're putting people to work).
What would happen? People might go and get tested anytime they feel sick. They'd be likely to go back and tested again later. We could be testing for the virus and antibodies. We could be looking at the long-term effects of exposure. And of course, we'd get better, faster, and more efficient with the testing over time.
If you tag it to drivers license or phone number or something, you would be able to easily keep track of everyone and their progress.
I mean, its going to be hard to setup, but you might actually start coming up with better means of testing, of getting good information that tells you something about the virus.
Its really fairly "simple" on the surface. Its logical. Makes sense.
And that's exactly why we'll never do it.
