Is it possible to travel responsibly (during a pandemic)?

[Jcp2]

I think we will discover that the family of coronavirus mutate to a moderate degree year to year normally, and that normally, if we were exposed at a young age, we also adapt and accumulate resistance to this family of viruses. The only reason we didn’t put much effort into learning about them is because all they did for the most part was to cause a mild illness that we call “the cold”. And in fact, that’s exactly what most young people get with COVID, a cold like illness. The problem, as mentioned above, is that older people haven’t had a chance to “catch up” with this novel type of virus, so can get really ill and could die. At some future time, the whole pandemic will devolve into an endemic cold like illness that we will lump into the common cold. What to do between now and then is the sticky wicket.

 

[tarponchik]

Which means it is not effective.

Several of us can't get the vaccine and need herd immunity. This shows that is not possible.

Not exactly. Vaccination may very well reduce COVID-19 to common cold, by dramatically reducing CFR. It will still go around but cause little harm.

 

[wnissen]

the variants were always inevitable no matter what we do.

To be fair, that's a hypothetical that no one can answer. But this statement doesn't have any basis in fact. It's possible that they would have happened, yes. But it's also possible that smaller populations with fewer opportunities to mix would not have produced a variant.

 

[scubadada]

The coronavirus is a highly mutable single stranded RNA virus. The majority of mutations are lethal or not beneficial. A minority of mutations may be beneficial to the existence of the virus and are selected out as desirable. That is how variants, mutants, arise in the population. Selection of variants requires ongoing replication, infection, in the host. Stopping transmission and new infections would remove the selective pressure for variants.

 

[rick00001967]

To be fair, that's a hypothetical that no one can answer. But this statement doesn't have any basis in fact. It's possible that they would have happened, yes. But it's also possible that smaller populations with fewer opportunities to mix would not have produced a variant.

sorry but i believe you are incorrect. see scubadadas post above. unless you think we could have somehow stopped transmission of the virus in the early stages (which clearly did not happen) it was inevitable. this is what the virus does.

 

[scubadada]

The coronavirus is a highly mutable single stranded RNA virus. The majority of mutations are lethal or not beneficial. A minority of mutations may be beneficial to the existence of the virus and are selected out as desirable. That is how variants, mutants, arise in the population. Selection of variants requires ongoing replication, infection, in the host. Stopping transmission and new infections would remove the selective pressure for variants.

That's how it became more transmissible and virulent in the first place.

 

[KenGordon]

Oxford vaccine could substantially cut spread Oxford vaccine could substantially cut spread

Although not completely apparent, to me at least, the people they are wheeling out on the radio news are saying that transmission is directly cut as well as reducing symptoms and death.

That is all good news, let’s not screw it up by encouraging new variants while we still have a hope to get a lid on it.

 

[scubadada]

All of the vaccines have the potential to cut tranmission. Get vaccinated.

 

[Joneill]

All of the vaccines have the potential to cut tranmission. Get vaccinated.

Still not so easy to do, unfortunately - but should improve over the next 3 months as production and supply ramp up and the new vaccines are approved and available as well.

 

[tarponchik]

To be fair, that's a hypothetical that no one can answer. But this statement doesn't have any basis in fact. It's possible that they would have happened, yes. But it's also possible that smaller populations with fewer opportunities to mix would not have produced a variant.

You do realize that viruses do not reproduce sexually, so they do not mix, don't you?