Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because by now everyone knows it as "Spanish flu". If you say H1N1-A-18, almost nobody would know what you're talking about.
Luckily, we won't have this problem with "SARS-CoV-2".
you mean the china virus?
Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?
91–100 of 106 posts
Re: Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
Eh.. this will cost me some reputation points on HN, but I have to say this. Why "Spanish flu" and not H1N1-A-18? That flu is called "Spanish" only because Spain's newspapers openly talked about the epidemic. The actual origin, according to wikipedia, was "likely Kansas".
Because by now everyone knows it as "Spanish flu". If you say H1N1-A-18, almost nobody would know what you're talking about.
Probably the most awesome thing about the internet in my opinion is that you can look stuff up if you don't know what someone is talking about.
Re: Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
Anecdotally: in my years on this planet, I've never known anyone who committed suicide (thankfully). However in the last 3 months, I've had both a friend and a relative kill themselves unexpectedly, both laid off since March, unable to work, financial issues, no hope and one just recently in an area just gone back into lockdown. It is very much easier for those of us who are able to WFH taking Zoom meetings in PJs wi…
We are killing people to save others. It's the trolley problem, except we don't even know how many we save and how many we kill.
Not even the trolly problems. These people do not have to die if we have equitable wellbeing support to pull them along this lockdown.
Re: Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why stop fighting when it becomes just a cold? The common cold costs billions (not to mention making people miserable).
I wonder why we never hear serious talk of trying to cure the common cold. It reminds me of how people who talk about curing aging are seen as crackpots. Unlike cancer, aging and colds are seen as inevitable by people, and any attempt to cure them, or even talk about the fact that we should, is seen as fanciful.
An unresolved question is whether we would be better or worse off, without low level colds and flu.
Do regular challenges play a role in modulating immune response and health?
Re: Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?
#95Re: Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
On one hand, fair. One the other, when have we seen life not adapt?
Masks work by physically filtering viruses out of the air. How do you propose shall a virus adapt to that? The thing's packed with DNA, it can't easily evolve to be 1/10th the diameter (and 1/1000th the volume) to get through filters.
Most masks that people are using aren't particularly good at blocking aerosols. Viruses also spread by contact.
Re: Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
On one hand, fair. One the other, when have we seen life not adapt?
More than 99% of species that have ever lived are now extinct.
That's technically true, but a large part of that is because similar, related species better suited to the environment did survive.
Re: Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
If that drops r below 1 long enough it would have to right? This seems especially hard to do though, since compliance would need to be nearly universal. You could potentially wipe out influenza and the common cold at the same time too though potentially.
Some individuals may stay infectious forever. E.g. Typhoid Mary[1] was quarantined twice, and the second time she remained isolated until death. (Thypoid fever is a bacterial infection, but I assume something similar can happen with a virus.) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Mallon
Herpes, HIV...
Re: Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can't remember where I read it, but the idea was that using existing vaccine tech to knock out pretty much any virus is a major financial undertaking. Now multiply that by 100x, or however many common-cold-causing viruses exist. Keyword being existing . Future advances may change the landscape significantly, and not just for colds. For that, we need a stable society, competent governance, and investment in foundation…
> Can't remember where I read it, but the idea was that using existing vaccine tech to knock out pretty much any virus is a major financial undertaking. Now multiply that by 100x, or however many common-cold-causing viruses exist. It seems quite strange to me that this should be multiplicative. There should be some economics of scale, especially for viruses from the same family. (It is also quite strange to me that t…
There are no coronavirus vaccines; prior to the year 2002 that’s because coronaviruses were relatively harmless in humans and thus not deemed a threat. Post 2002 it is because we didn’t heed the warning of SARS and invest seriously in creating one (and it’s hard to develop a vaccine for a disease that isn’t around anymore).
For the “common cold” vaccine, you’re looking at hundreds of strains across about nine types of virus, so a pretty tall order using traditional approaches.
Re: Will SARS-CoV-2 become endemic?
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Can't remember where I read it, but the idea was that using existing vaccine tech to knock out pretty much any virus is a major financial undertaking. Now multiply that by 100x, or however many common-cold-causing viruses exist. It seems quite strange to me that this should be multiplicative. There should be some economics of scale, especially for viruses from the same family. (It is also quite strange to me that t…
It sounds like candidate vaccines were designed within weeks, or small few months. It is the testing that take a long time. It would be cool if we could test a method, rather than a vaccine, and next time just whip up a vaccine with the tested method and apply it quickly.
We got lucky because MERS candidates were in the pipeline, and the best candidate was ready to start because CEPI had already invested in getting an RNA vaccine platform up and running: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_for_Epidemic_Prepa...