Originally Posted by PT6A67B

This is utter insanity. There are two mitigating strategies that work with this virus: social distancing and wearing masks. That’s it. That’s how other countries have suppressed the virus and begun to reopen their economies. Achieving herd immunity before we have a vaccine would be too devastating to consider as a possibility.
People keep saying “the virus only has a 1% mortality rate”. That neglects the law of large numbers. It also assumes that only one of two things happen: you die or you’re 100% healthy. The U.S. has a population of 328.2 million (approx.). If 1% of the population dies, that’s roughly 3.28 million people dead. 3 million people dead would monkey wrench the economy no matter what. That more than doubles the number of annual deaths per year all at once. The second bit is people only talk about deaths. Also, and this is important, for ever 1 person who dies, roughly:
- 19 more require Hospitalization.
- 18 will have Permanent Heart Damage for the rest of their lives.
- 10 will have Permanent Lung Damage.
- 3 will have Strokes...
- 2 will have Neurological Damage that leads to Chronic Weakness and Loss of Coordination.
- 2 will have Neurological Damage that Leads to Cognitive Function.
This all adds up to:
- 3,282,000 People dead.
- 63,358,000 Hospitalized.
- 59,076,000 People w/ Permanent Lung Damage.
- 32,820,000 People w/ Permanent Heart Damage.
- 9,846,000 People w/ Strokes...
- 6,564,000 People w/ Muscle Weakness.
- 6,564,000 People w/ Loss of Cognitive Function.
The choice is not, “ruin the economy to save 1%.” If we reopen the economy, IT WILL BE DESTROYED ANYWAY! The U.S. economy cannot survive with everyone getting COVID-19.
This isn’t a media problem. This isn’t a political problem. This isn’t a public hysteria problem. This is a pandemic, and we know how to suppress it. We have a blueprint, laid out by other countries that have successfully suppressed the virus.
As has been said, there are many issues that a vaccine won’t help with: different strains, mutations, public confidence, anti-vaxers etc. What will help? Those two mitigation strategies that other countries have used to suppress the virus to the point that they have started to reopen their economies.
Wear your mask. Tell others to wear their mask. Socially distance yourself. Tell others to socially distance. Listen to the CDC and experts in epidemiology. And hope we start getting this advice from the federal government.