kaputt

Herd immunity is not some be all end all permanent thing where once you've had it you never get it again. If that were the case we would have all stopped getting common colds as kids.

What they truly mean by herd immunity is that enough people have been exposed, and the virus has cycled enough times that it has self selected itself down to a mild strain. Its possible its already selecting down to a more moderate infection. If death rates don't go up from these surges in cases then I would take that as a good sign. We'll know in a couple of weeks.

My guess is no vaccine will ever be effectively created and this will become one of the circulating corona viruses that's already out there. I read an article the other day that about 15-30% (depending on the year and location) of common colds are caused by corona viruses. This will likely eventually carry about the same threat as the common cold. Which by the way, the common cold likely kills thousands or maybe even tens of thousands per year in America alone, especially high risk patients like the elderly or cancer patients. Its not like we can completely eliminate the risk of illness.

Despite our best efforts, the natural selection machine is still running on earth. While its tragic how much this has harmed the elderly, from a species perspective its good that the young are basically unaffected by the virus when it comes to mortality. The same could not be said for the 1918 flu.