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Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?

science.sciencemag.org

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Re: Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?

#41

Post by pmoriarty »

HarryHirsch wrote: post #36
pmoriarty wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"while it's deadlier than the flu, it's not that much deadlier" From just a week ago: "Covid deaths three times higher than flu and pneumonia" [1] And that's taking in to account all the lockdown, mask-wearing, and social distancing measures. Without those it'd be even worse. [1] - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54463511

There's also the issue that cases of flu are remarkably low this year because of all the mask wearing, social distancing &c. Comparing apples to apples, coronaplague is about 10 times as deadly as annual flu.

"cases of flu are remarkably low this year because of all the mask wearing, social distancing &c."

And yet if COVID-19 was no more dangerous than the flu you'd expect to see equal result form those mask wearing and social distancing measures.. but you don't.

COVID-19 is just way more deadly.

Re: Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?

#43

Post by throwmeaway_pls »

pmoriarty wrote: post #37
mns wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can’t just put all the “many” people in the same bucket. I hate this so much now in various circles. I also saw someone else with a similar idea: “why is there a second wave, are so many people anti maskers and non COVID believers?”. No, people had enough of the fumbling and incoherent messages, people are tired and the world is made up not just of developers that can work from home and see this pandemic from the…

"Instead of acting with compassion and trying to convince people of the dangers of this disease" Like that hasn't been done non-stop since the world heard the term "coronavirus"? A significant percentage of the population prefer not to listen to the science and instead believe in conspiracy theories. Science literacy in the general population is abysmal. That's just a fact. Many people prefer to listen to what their…

I think people can tell that bullshit has been spewed in all directions. Nobody is looking good here. Nobody is above reproach.

Re: Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?

#44

Post by contravariant »

Kiro wrote: post #6
mensetmanusman wrote: post #4

Of course, no way to control coordinated mask wearing for 7 billion people simultaneously without decades of planning. HIV has killed around 50 million over the past 40 years, and we know how to stop that but it is still endemic and will be for at least a century.

Is the general consensus that the virus would be eradicated if everyone wore a mask? Is it enough?

This probably depends a lot on the quality of the masks and the whether people wear them properly or not. So far I'm not too optimistic about either.

Re: Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?

#45

Post by hyko »

rich_sasha wrote: post #11

If it does become endemic, the question is, what disease would it cause? The deadly Spanish and Hong Kong flu viruses didn't disappear, but rather evolved to cause yet-another seasonal flu after a few seasons. If the Covid virus does the same and causes yet-another-cold, who cares? Whereas if we're fighting Covid-the-disease for decades to come, well, God help us!

Why stop fighting when it becomes just a cold? The common cold costs billions (not to mention making people miserable).

Re: Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?

#46

Post by simonh »

hyko wrote: post #45
rich_sasha wrote: post #11

If it does become endemic, the question is, what disease would it cause? The deadly Spanish and Hong Kong flu viruses didn't disappear, but rather evolved to cause yet-another seasonal flu after a few seasons. If the Covid virus does the same and causes yet-another-cold, who cares? Whereas if we're fighting Covid-the-disease for decades to come, well, God help us!

Why stop fighting when it becomes just a cold? The common cold costs billions (not to mention making people miserable).

Please don't do that. Nobody said not to fight it, we do fight colds already, it just wouldn't be news anymore.

Did you know there are four coronaviruses that cause cold-like symptoms? I didn't, because I didn't really care. That's all Op is saying.

Re: Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?

#47

Post by jaywalk »

evan_ wrote: post #39
Red_Leaves_Flyy wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I reckon it's harder to get people to always practice safe sex than it is to wear masks.

people are having sex a lot less frequently than they are breathing air, though

Heh, speak for yourself ;)

/joke

Re: Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?

#48

Post by elorant »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #4

Of course, no way to control coordinated mask wearing for 7 billion people simultaneously without decades of planning. HIV has killed around 50 million over the past 40 years, and we know how to stop that but it is still endemic and will be for at least a century.

HIV is not asymptomatic though. If you have it you know it, and thus you can protect yourself and those around you. If we had an indication of who's a covid carrier we could have fought the pandemic a lot better.

Re: Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?

#49

Post by tengbretson »

pmoriarty wrote: post #37
mns wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can’t just put all the “many” people in the same bucket. I hate this so much now in various circles. I also saw someone else with a similar idea: “why is there a second wave, are so many people anti maskers and non COVID believers?”. No, people had enough of the fumbling and incoherent messages, people are tired and the world is made up not just of developers that can work from home and see this pandemic from the…

"Instead of acting with compassion and trying to convince people of the dangers of this disease" Like that hasn't been done non-stop since the world heard the term "coronavirus"? A significant percentage of the population prefer not to listen to the science and instead believe in conspiracy theories. Science literacy in the general population is abysmal. That's just a fact. Many people prefer to listen to what their…

> This kind of ignorance could be overcome to some extent through massive information campaigns, but so far the US government at least is incapable or unwilling to do that. If anything, on some of the highest levels it's doing quite the opposite.

I think at this point we have enough data to understand what happens when we try to force people to think or believe things on a massive scale. Its not great.

Re: Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?

#50

Post by lostdog »

simonh wrote: post #46
hyko wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why stop fighting when it becomes just a cold? The common cold costs billions (not to mention making people miserable).

Please don't do that. Nobody said not to fight it, we do fight colds already, it just wouldn't be news anymore. Did you know there are four coronaviruses that cause cold-like symptoms? I didn't, because I didn't really care. That's all Op is saying.

If we had invested more in developing vaccines and treatments for the common cold, then maybe we would have tricks that would have helped us beat covid faster.
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