The Coronavirus Is Here Forever • Hacker News Board

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#121

Post by peteradio » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 1:45 PM UTC

dota_fanatic wrote: post #47

cm2187 wrote: post #16

That's why I don't really understand why there are still covid restrictions in countries that are close to full vaccination, like the UK. There isn't really a next step after having vaccinated the population, it is "steady state". So do they want us to have these restrictions (countries you can't travel to, endless testing, mask requirements) forever?

Aren't the vaccines still not available for those under 12? And they're emergency use only in many of those countries? Not sure how you can say any country, even Israel, is "close to full vaccination". 28% of their population is 14 and under . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Israel#Age_str...

1 year ago the hive mind was buzzing about protecting the "elderly/infirm" with the warp drive wunder drugs. So it shouldn't be surprising that "full vaccination" might be calculated with "elderly/infirm" pop in the denominator.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#122

Post by tyfon » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 1:45 PM UTC

luffapi wrote: post #43

cm2187 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No restriction? You will have a nasty surprise if you return from a red list country. Plus mandatory covid tests before and after returning to the UK. Plus mandatory face masks in public transports. Plus mandatory self-quarantine if you are pinged by the NHS app. Many companies have not returned to the office. We are not back to normal.

> Many companies have not returned to the office. We are not back to normal. This is the new normal (thankfully). Government regulations or not, management will not be able to force people back in the office. Office culture was a quirk of the 20th century. A halfway house between the assembly line and the internet. Covid just forced its inevitable collapse.

Yeah my team will meet in the office for an hour once a week otherwise WFH.

I suspect once the bean counters discover that the office is only used for an hour once a week also after corona there will be pressure to remove a lot of the seats.

The only one really resisting at my company is the "office manager" for some reason ;)

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#123

Post by CodeWriter23 » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 1:46 PM UTC

ericbarrett wrote: post #92

colordrops wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it's not. There's still no evidence that there is any real risk to children. Please prove otherwise. Anecdotes and one in a million cases don't count.

"North Texas runs out of pediatric ICU beds amid Covid surge" (August 13): https://news.yahoo.com/north-texas-runs-pediatric-icu-175912...

Only 73 Pediatric ICU Beds in North Texas (from the Yahoo! Article)? This article puts a little different perspective on that reality - ‘No Staffed Pediatric ICU Beds Available’ In North Texas Area, DFW Hospital Council Says https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2021/08/12/no-staffed-pediatric-icu...

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#124

Post by CountDrewku » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 1:46 PM UTC

alphager wrote: post #37

> close to full vaccination, like the UK. Why do people not consider kids younger than 12yo as part of the population? MILLIONS of kids can't be vaccinated yet (but will hopefully come december). Any talk of lifting restrictions before march is basically a re-formulated "fuck the kids".

Because COVID poses very little risk to children. The flu poses more risk to that age group. No one is running around saying we need to mask children for the flu and vaccinated all of them.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#125

Post by jfengel » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 1:46 PM UTC

alphager wrote: post #37

> close to full vaccination, like the UK. Why do people not consider kids younger than 12yo as part of the population? MILLIONS of kids can't be vaccinated yet (but will hopefully come december). Any talk of lifting restrictions before march is basically a re-formulated "fuck the kids".

It's not so much "fuck the kids" as "fuck the teachers".

Even if you believe that "kids don't get sick from COVID", you can't ignore that teachers do. And many of them are in high-risk groups -- older, with comorbidities. Most are vaccinated, but they're still taking a risk.

Teachers are already smarting over the fact that (in the US) they're literally trained to take a bullet for their kids. So when you tell them to open the schools "for the kids", they're hearing that they're disposable human beings, and they don't like it.

Open the schools incautiously, and there won't be any schools to open. Because a school without teachers is just a warehouse.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#126

Post by MontyCarloHall » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 1:46 PM UTC

nradov wrote: post #35

xyzzy21 wrote: post #4

Yes. And it will evolve into a fairly benign endemic virus just like its cousin: the common cold coronavirus.

It's not that the virus will necessarily evolve to become benign, but rather that most people will get infected when they're young and build up natural immunity which protects them later in life. This is what already happens with the other 4 endemic common cold coronaviruses. Each of them probably killed a lot of people when they first emerged. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7252012/

Yes. Hopefully, vaccines confer the same immunity as exposure during youth. Based on their efficacy, it seems they’re quite close, at least for current strains—even with delta, the overwhelming majority of breakthrough cases are benign or totally asymptomatic, just like with a common cold.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#127

Post by ilammy » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 1:47 PM UTC

HarryHirsch wrote: post #48

oblio wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We'll probably do a bunch of these. Vaccines, treatment for the worst symptoms and potentially treatment against the virus itself. I think we're working on all these fronts. I wonder how much we'll change/have to change our behavior long term, for example 10 years from now. I'd imagine not much.

I wonder how much we'll change/have to change our behavior long term, for example 10 years from now. I'd imagine not much. I'd say it's the exact opposite. It's known that immunity against coronaviruses isn't long-lasting (look at the Rev Jackson and his wife, both of whom were vaccinated early this year and are now in hospital) and that antiviral treatment needs to start early (does everyone really want to do a PCR…

> until the virus is eradicated

But doesn't COVID have animal reservoirs? If it does, good luck vaccinating all the bats and monkeys of the world. Or what's the plan there? Wait until the virus has subsided “enough”, then... what exactly? Still be on guard 24/7/365/4, paranoidally testing each and every traveler, ready to quench a cluster formed around some volunteer returning from a distant part of the world?

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#128

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 1:47 PM UTC

hutzlibu wrote: post #71

cm2187 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These herd immunity thresholds assumed that vaccinated people do not transmit the virus, but it appears that they do. Vaccines seem to be very efficient at preventing complications, which is great and good enough to neutralise this virus. But they don't seem to have made a dent into this summer's cases numbers. It doesn't look like vaccines will prevent the virus from circulating. Hospitalisation rates have been pret…

"It doesn't look like vaccines will prevent the virus from circulating." Do you have some numbers? As far as I know, it indeed supresses the virus from circulating, it just doesn't stop it completely. Here in my area, which started early with broad vaccinations - the numbers are way down.

[deleted]

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#129

Post by Expirat » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 1:48 PM UTC

HarryHirsch wrote: post #93

argvargc wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And despite killing ten times as many people as COVID, these changes were achieved without destroying small businesses and jobs, plunging millions into poverty (and likely later starvation), gross human rights violations and police brutality, and reintroduction of segregation into previously free democratic societies. (Just like with all other communicable diseases of modern times.) Go us.

You have to give it to the homosexuals - they started using condoms and shut down the clubs where you would have sex with ten different men every night. Meanwhile, in large tracts of the country we are still arguing if masks are a good idea.

Yes, condoms = face masks. Expert tier logic.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#130

Post by hcurtiss » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 1:48 PM UTC

firecall wrote: post #103

hcurtiss wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that in kids COVID is about as lethal as the ordinary flu. It’s more transmissible, but the number of kids we’ve seen suffer serious consequences across the US has been very, very low. We don’t make kids wear helmets everywhere they go, though it would be decidedly more efficacious from a safety perspective. It seems to me some relativity is in order.

This is outdated information. Delta strain is worse - more dangerous for kids and those under 30.

More dangerous than what? Even if it were 200% more lethal, 2x a very small number is still a very small number.