There is no evidence of herd immunity soon

[dukkha]

It’s probably still around.

Some version of it, anyway. Viruses aren’t static things—they can and do mutate. Not always in the same direction with respect to virulence. In fact, something has happened with the COVID death rate since March.

yep I was wondering if it's better treatment techniques or better therapeutics.
I suspect both.

You think it's less virulent though now? *asking*

[Darth Omar]

yep I was wondering if it's better treatment techniques or better therapeutics.
I suspect both.

You think it's less virulent though now? *asking*

I think it’s plausible it’s become less virulent.

But yeah, treatments have improved. Of course, part of the problem is our testing data is junk. If too many false positives are walking around it’s going to artificially depress the death rate.

There’s also something going on with flu numbers—they’re way down practically everywhere. The *assumption* is it’s because of social distancing. I’m skeptical of that assumption because the flu numbers aren’t just down—they are nearly non-existent in some places.

Doesn’t add up.

[PoliTalker]

Hello Walt,

You are correct. Outbreaks are not just being sustained, they are spreading. That means not only are we not at herd immunity, we are nowhere close to herd immunity.

There are open questions about how far away herd immunity is, or if it is even possible. There is no question we are not close to herd immunity.

That is pretty basic logic and flatly impossible to refute with any valid argument.

If we reached herd immunity, it would stop spreading. The numbers would be falling.

But that is not the case. The numbers are rising.

[Walt]

It’s probably still around.

There is a huge concern that Spanish Flu is still around, or that it will mutate back to that strain. If that does happen, then a lot of people will die.