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The idea to social distancing is to slow the inevitable spread so health infrastructure isn't overwhelmed and death is minimized.

bob33212 7y ago
Also it gives us some time to think clearly about next steps and to have some control over the situation at an individual and organization level. Maybe someday we will also decided that herd immunity is the way to go but we may also decided to give the researchers a month to see if they come up with other options
- nullc 7y ago
  > we will also decided that herd immunity Or more critically, if we learn that lasting native immunity is even possible. For the coronaviruses which cause the cold (such as CoV-OC43) the adaptive immune response is not particularly strong and immunity lasts only months. -- not due to mutation, but because of behaviors in the immune system which we don't yet understand. This has contributed to the difficulty in creating a vaccine for the prior sars virus. As a result, the whole "get people immune for next season" idea may be a largely pointless goal. The best comparisons we have so far suggest that it is, though we just don't have enough information yet.
  - pmoriarty 7y ago
    "For the coronaviruses which cause the cold (such as CoV-OC43) the adaptive immune response is not particularly strong and immunity lasts only months. -- not due to mutation, but because of behaviors in the immune system which we don't yet understand. This has contributed to the difficulty in creating a vaccine for the prior sars virus." From what I understand, work on developing a SARS vaccine stopped because the epidemic was over, and there was no longer an interest or will to continue working on it. In addition, here's what Vincent Racaniello of This Week In Virology[1] had to say about antivirals: "We could have had antivirals against all coronas or many coronas if we had put the money in to making them, but there was no interest and therefore companies which need to make profits were not interested in pursuing them, but they could have been developed and stockpiled and been ready. "So if you had infinite money and people you could say, 'Let's get a bunch of RNA polymerases from bat SARS-like coronaviruses and design something that will inhibit them all.' I don't think it would be that hard because they're very conserved. But without the financial incentive... so, antivirals are kind of a different thing because you could develop them and bring them, you could even do a phase one and then have them ready for actual testing when there's an outbreak." [1] - at about 1 hr and 33 minutes in to episode 590 - http://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-590/ http://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-590/
    - nullc 7y ago
      Antivirals != vaccine. Antivirals for sars-cov-2 seem MUCH more likely to arrive quickly than a vaccine, and I wouldn't be surprised to find that several of the things currently being tested (some of which are already approved for the treatment of other conditions) are effective.
jancsika 7y ago
That this keeps coming up on HN is fascinating. I'm just imagining some programmer in a future interview talking about their familiarity with async functions in Javascript. The interviewer glances down at an app named "Mirror Test Pro" that cross-referenced that claim against an old HN post revealing ignorance about the upshot of social distancing. It consequently overlays a red "X" on the programmer's avatar. "Thanks, we'll be in touch," the interviewer says as the programmer is shuttled out the door. And I'm imagining many such programmers becoming frustrated when a breach of MTP data reveals why they kept getting rejected in interviews. They would band together and write a powerful DDOS tool to exact vengeance upon the world that humiliated them. Lucky for the world, their sudden, synchronous silence gives enough advanced warning to thwart the attacks while their CPUs helplessly whir on one giant blocking call.
- wetmore 7y ago
  I have no idea what this comment is trying to say.

bob33212 7y ago

Also it gives us some time to think clearly about next steps and to have some control over the situation at an individual and organization level. Maybe someday we will also decided that herd immunity is the way to go but we may also decided to give the researchers a month to see if they come up with other options

nullc 7y ago
> we will also decided that herd immunity Or more critically, if we learn that lasting native immunity is even possible. For the coronaviruses which cause the cold (such as CoV-OC43) the adaptive immune response is not particularly strong and immunity lasts only months. -- not due to mutation, but because of behaviors in the immune system which we don't yet understand. This has contributed to the difficulty in creating a vaccine for the prior sars virus. As a result, the whole "get people immune for next season" idea may be a largely pointless goal. The best comparisons we have so far suggest that it is, though we just don't have enough information yet.
- pmoriarty 7y ago
  "For the coronaviruses which cause the cold (such as CoV-OC43) the adaptive immune response is not particularly strong and immunity lasts only months. -- not due to mutation, but because of behaviors in the immune system which we don't yet understand. This has contributed to the difficulty in creating a vaccine for the prior sars virus." From what I understand, work on developing a SARS vaccine stopped because the epidemic was over, and there was no longer an interest or will to continue working on it. In addition, here's what Vincent Racaniello of This Week In Virology[1] had to say about antivirals: "We could have had antivirals against all coronas or many coronas if we had put the money in to making them, but there was no interest and therefore companies which need to make profits were not interested in pursuing them, but they could have been developed and stockpiled and been ready. "So if you had infinite money and people you could say, 'Let's get a bunch of RNA polymerases from bat SARS-like coronaviruses and design something that will inhibit them all.' I don't think it would be that hard because they're very conserved. But without the financial incentive... so, antivirals are kind of a different thing because you could develop them and bring them, you could even do a phase one and then have them ready for actual testing when there's an outbreak." [1] - at about 1 hr and 33 minutes in to episode 590 - http://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-590/ http://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-590/
  - nullc 7y ago
    Antivirals != vaccine. Antivirals for sars-cov-2 seem MUCH more likely to arrive quickly than a vaccine, and I wouldn't be surprised to find that several of the things currently being tested (some of which are already approved for the treatment of other conditions) are effective.

jancsika 7y ago

That this keeps coming up on HN is fascinating. I'm just imagining some programmer in a future interview talking about their familiarity with async functions in Javascript. The interviewer glances down at an app named "Mirror Test Pro" that cross-referenced that claim against an old HN post revealing ignorance about the upshot of social distancing. It consequently overlays a red "X" on the programmer's avatar. "Thanks, we'll be in touch," the interviewer says as the programmer is shuttled out the door. And I'm imagining many such programmers becoming frustrated when a breach of MTP data reveals why they kept getting rejected in interviews. They would band together and write a powerful DDOS tool to exact vengeance upon the world that humiliated them. Lucky for the world, their sudden, synchronous silence gives enough advanced warning to thwart the attacks while their CPUs helplessly whir on one giant blocking call.

wetmore 7y ago
I have no idea what this comment is trying to say.