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Ask HN: Will there be “coronavirus parties”?
Like those “chicken pox parties” for kids, but with the intention of having better access to medical care before the system gets overloaded. Looking at the charts, like the NYTimes one I posted about earlier, it’s a pretty obvious conclusion that timing will affect outcome if you get a bad case of this.
- seren 7y agoI understand what you mean, it is much better to be contaminated before the system is overwhelmed, however if you are in Europe or US, that ship has already sailed. The time you'll get symptoms in about 5 days, the system might be already overtaxed, and getting voluntarily exposed to the virus will only stress the system more. And God forbids if everyone got that same idea at once.
- Kaibeezy 7y agoRight? I hesitated to post this, but then remembered my own axiom: If you’ve thought of something, someone else has already thought of it.
- thinkingemote 7y agoAlso, once you have symptoms the worst stuff might happen after these fever and coughs end.
- notahacker 7y agoPer the other thread on this[1], this is in general a terrible idea, not least because the people intentionally infecting themselves with COVID-19 will be the ones overloading the system by artificially accelerating its spread. [1]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22565408 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22565408 I'd also suspect that if the system becomes overloaded, perhaps because of an artificial increase in the number of cases generated by 'coronavirus parties', people that admit to intentionally infecting themselves in the hope of being at the front of the ICU queue will find themselves at the back.
- Kaibeezy 7y agoI did not see the other thread :( What’s the protocol? Should I delete this one? Copy your replies over?
- notahacker 7y agoThink it generally just drops off naturally.
- drKarl 7y agoLike I read in a post in LessWrong, it's much better to try to avoid contagion until after the peak of the pandemic, so that there are more resources freed up (hospital beds, respirators, etc) and the doctors and health workers have more experience in dealing with this particular virus, maybe there's existing drugs that have proven effective with this virus unlike on the early stages where they don't know what drugs to use (apparently some HIV drugs could potentially be useful against SARS-CoV-2). Not new drugs specifically develop for this virus, that could be years from now. So, social distancing, try to avoid crowds, try to stay at home, clean your hands (follow the protocol to clean them), clean and disinfect surfaces, WFH if possible, and so on... Anecdotally, I think the UK strategy of letting the virus run its course so that the country gets some sort of herd immunity it's a very dangerous bet... Lots of elderly people in the country will die, and it won't guarantee any immunity as people have gotten the disease twice. Maybe they are counting on lots of elderly people dying to save on pensions and healthcare costs (healthcare is public and free in the UK).
- goodcanadian 7y agoI think the UK strategy of letting the virus run its course . . . This is not my impression of the UK strategy at all. Until now, there has been very aggressive contact tracing and testing. There has been no need for mass closures and restrictions. The strategy is now shifting. I suspect those closures and restrictions are coming. There is danger in doing it too early, however, and definitely no point in isolating people who in all likelihood are perfectly healthy.
- drKarl 7y agohttps://www.itv.com/news/2020-03-12/british-government-wants-uk-to-acquire-coronavirus-herd-immunity-writes-robert-peston/ https://www.itv.com/news/2020-03-12/british-government-wants... "The strategy of the British government in minimising the impact of Covid-19 is to allow the virus to pass through the entire population so that we acquire herd immunity" https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11164977/millions-uk-coronavirus-herd-immunity/ https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11164977/millions-uk-coronavir... If you search about this you'll find many other sources... So basically the UK wants to acquire herd immunity as a country, which I assume is at the expense of all the elderly people who will die as a result... Also relevant https://twitter.com/daverooney/status/1238359192249008128 https://twitter.com/daverooney/status/1238359192249008128
- lm28469 7y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22565408 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22565408
- duxup 7y agoMuch longer term there will be a vaccine, so if someone is worried about developing immunity they have other options later on (if somehow they aren't exposed anyway). In the meantime getting infected before a peak that occurs at an unknown time seems much riskier than doing so long after.