The Coronavirus

[David Horn]

(05-06-2020, 10:32 PM)Warren Dew Wrote:

(05-06-2020, 10:50 AM)David Horn Wrote:

(05-06-2020, 09:15 AM)Warren Dew Wrote:

(05-06-2020, 06:29 AM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote: People who have already had it, who have an immunity

There's no actual indication that already having it gives one immunity.  That does not happen to any significant extent for that other coronavirus caused disease, the common cold.

The myriad viruses that cause the Common Cold are unstable, so vaccination is clearly impossible. This virus seems to follow a different, more stable paradigm. Note: if immunity from having the disease is nonexistent, then a successful vaccine seems unlikely.

How is this virus "more stable"?  Just because it doesn't have as many strains yet?

If there's no prolonged immunity, you're right, there's unlikely to be a successful vaccine.  Then we get to have repeated outbreaks each winter, with associated mitigations or deaths.

Incidentally, this going on for several years might actually make Covid-19 the climax of the Crisis, which I doubt it can otherwise be.

I'm no expert so I can only report what the actual experts say, and this came from an infectious disease researcher.  Supposedly, the coronavirus strains we call the common cold are less stable, but all types are RNA viruses tend to mutate as they reproduce in a victim's cells.  SARS and MERS changed to our benefit, and that may happen to this virus too.  Viruses mutate in all directions, but more-lethal variants kill their victims and burnout quickly.  The mutations we tend to see are more mundane, and we live with them.