I've been disheartened to see this recent wave of COVID defeatism arising out of the apparent difficulty of achieving "true" herd immunity. The point isn't herd immunity, the point is preventing death, suffering, and massive social disruption.
That said, I think that, in addition to doubling down on vaccination -- perhaps including carrot of cash incentives, the stick of school and employer mandates, or both -- we badly need: 1.) more, better, and cheaper testing and 2.) therapeutics (steroids and antivirals seem most promising here).
We also urgently need to understand long COVID and what can be done to prevent and manage it. The NIH is providing $1.15 billion over four years to study the issue, and this is certainly a step forward. But we can't continue flying blind for half a decade. Are we seriously contemplating sending people back to school and work knowing full well that COVID infection is still a serious risk, and that as many as a third of those who are infected, regardless of initial symptoms, will develop serious chronic conditions? How is that anything other than morally reprehensible?
I'm also a little concerned with the (seemingly culture-war-driven) geographic disparity of vaccination, which could leave us with islands of relative immunity surrounded by COVID-ravaged hinterlands.
I've been disheartened to see this recent wave of COVID defeatism arising out of the apparent difficulty of achieving "true" herd immunity. The point isn't herd immunity, the point is preventing death, suffering, and massive social disruption.
That said, I think that, in addition to doubling down on vaccination -- perhaps including carrot of cash incentives, the stick of school and employer mandates, or both -- we badly need: 1.) more, better, and cheaper testing and 2.) therapeutics (steroids and antivirals seem most promising here).
We also urgently need to understand long COVID and what can be done to prevent and manage it. The NIH is providing $1.15 billion over four years to study the issue, and this is certainly a step forward. But we can't continue flying blind for half a decade. Are we seriously contemplating sending people back to school and work knowing full well that COVID infection is still a serious risk, and that as many as a third of those who are infected, regardless of initial symptoms, will develop serious chronic conditions? How is that anything other than morally reprehensible?
I'm also a little concerned with the (seemingly culture-war-driven) geographic disparity of vaccination, which could leave us with islands of relative immunity surrounded by COVID-ravaged hinterlands.