JohnDillworth
Posts: 3100
Joined: 3/19/2009 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Canoerebel From everything I've read, the incidence of permanent damage is sporadic and relatively small. All of the hullabaloo in the press and by politicians makes me nervous, thinking that the steady decline in mortality may level off or reverse. Thus far, no signs of that. From a personal perspective, my level of concern remains 1, on a scale of 1-10. It peaked in March at 3, when there was so much unknown and the sky seemed to be the limit. The virus isn't a major concern but collateral damage (the cascade effect) is. Mortality as a percentage of infection rate should never be as high as it was. There is much that is not known but the medical establishment knows much more than it did. There is at least one anti-viral that has helped and at least one steroid. We knew nothing in the beginning, now we know many of the vectors it attacks along. We have learned, we are protecting the most vulnerable as best we can. The danger of being overwhelmed remains. Houston and Phoenix and Miami are close to the edge. We, the collective we, the entire country, will not let that happen. In some respects however, we ar3 further behind than we were in April. 92-95% of the population is still vulnerable to this. The average time to develop an effective vaccine is 20 years. The fastest vaccine ever developed, the one for mumps, took 4 years. There will not be a vaccine this year, it is unlikely there will be one next year. It is unlikely because it never has been done. Even if one is developed next year manufacturing hundreds of millions, if not billions of doses, will take time. Yes, mortality rate is lower, but, as Stalin said, Quantity has a Quality all it's own. Unless we slow the rate of infection there will be many millions infected, and we have not done much to slow this thing down. Every day is a new record. We are not winning
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Today I come bearing an olive branch in one hand, and the freedom fighter's gun in the other. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand. I repeat, do not let the olive branch fall from my hand. - Yasser Arafat Speech to UN General Assembly
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