In a separate thread, I saw another person frustrated with something that has frustrated me for quite some time: it seems that there's no "exit strategy" in our war against COVID-19. We all keep saying that we're going to be glad "when this is all over", but what exactly does that mean? Do you all think that a miracle vaccine is going to be created, and we can all go back to the same lives we had before COVID-19 hit? ... or can't we? How long will it take to get a vaccine? Are we even sure we can create a vaccine? How long will we continue this lifestyle until a vaccine is created? Years? What is the likelihood that a vaccine will never be created, or won't even be completely effective (considering the virus mutates)? Or do you think that COVID-19 is here to stay? Like influenza and HIV, it will claim many lives each year, but we're just going to have to live with it? What exactly are you hoping for? We're going to wear masks, social distance, and close/reduce businesses until..... what exactly?
Hopefully by spring, we will either have a good enough vaccine or a good enough understanding of the disease to have an effective treatment process and life will be normal again.
Life has changed. We won’t see social crowds like we used to on a regular basis. Movie studios are already pushing new releases to ppv. The infrastructure for food delivery is in place. People will be germaphobes and/or agoraphobic. Kids will be adjusted to remote learning. It will be a lot like your grandma or great grandma pinching pennies as a lesson learned from the depression. This kind of thing has a generational impact and takes decades to normalize. The upside is the boomers moving out of the workplace and making room for younger generations. I know guys in their fifties that are talking about retiring due to the pandemic. When you’re vested in your retirement you’re only working for a fraction of your pay because if you retired you would make a % of it anyway.
Looking at previous similar pandemics they usually last 2-3 years start to finish with about a 1.5 year peak -- we are at the beginning of this pandemic and should definitely expect another significant surge in the winter.
A new administration committed to science and good faith health policies will make a huge difference in the long haul.
I'm holding out hope that the untested Russian vaccine turns people into rage zombies and society collapses in an orgy of blood and canabalism. Ultimately, I think that would be a more hopeful long term outcome than a second Trump term.
Science and Research. Tldr version - I don't see this as a permanent problem, like eventually unless long term symptoms/impact majority of total population/research stops - people in power are going to choose money/economy - and the rest of us are going to eventually choose going out. For example - the NCAA doesn't care about the student athlete as it is, you really think they're not going to fill those stadiums eventually? I do think this season is shot most likely. Hopefully by next year it'll be getting closer to a norm based on research progressing. Hell maybe they finally will give some of these athletes some money too. Yeah they get an education - but when the program they're playing for wrecks their bodies and it's a team that's evaluated to be worth billions they sure as hell should get something. With that said- in 6 months to a year+ better treatments will be here, not sure I believe vaccine will be here until normal time frame/maybe longer. I also do worry it could become a permanent thing like we see with the flu (so normal vaccine offered annually maybe) and/or long-term ramifications for people that do get it - ie hpv or other viruses that stay around and create longterm problems for people. There's been viruses before and there'll he viruses again that change things. With that said, I'm just glad this isn't a straight up plague that takes 95% of us immediately, and if this or something did come/mutate hopefully we learned better protocols from this. I mean think back just a few months ago (it's still bad but not like it was) - like no PPE for health care workers/essential workers - and that absolutely cannot happen again, because if health care and science are gone - followed by the people that grow/provide food for the majority of us to buy - that's when it becomes even more serious. Anyway - don't take my post as making light of it, I just think at some point when the research is there it'll be more normal. I just hope businesses can last until then. And again, the situation especially for those impacted is serious, so don't go yelling at essential workers like some crazies, the next year+ will probably still suck... I mean when you have a cashier at a grocery store trying to survive and you want to yell at them like they caused this virus or whatever/make decisions - you can **** off. I will say what is going to change are some of your favorite places/spots might be gone and that sucks for sure.
How long do you think it will be before people en masse start saying, "Screw this. I'm not gonna wear a mask any more"?
A vaccine might still be quite a ways out but I think we’re going to have treatments that may make this disease manageable by the end of this year if not sooner. I also believe that patience across the board will run out and eventually society will just start gong back to what it was even if the disease is still quite present. We may just end up accepting deaths and infections as just the norm.
On target, and look where it got us. We have to hope for a vaccine sometime next year. If it is sooner than that, it will be a miracle. Hope for a miracle, people. That, and get the damn shots every year. I do, and I haven't dropped dead. Not yet.
well it's obvious that humans need to put rezpeck to the animals and nature if this was truly passed on from animal to human, than humans need to stop eating certain animals and stop developing on land that pushes the animals into the human population