Are the corona virus idiots doing us a favour?

You can’t discount those things though.

Herd immunity do you mean ?

Good point Bluebell....

What you have described, Bluebellwould, is the way previous pandemics have been conquered. Even plagues like The Black Death were overcome in such a way.

I got the gist of what you meant but doing us a favour is a tad insensitive.

I, like you Bluebellwould, don’t condone the mass gathering and selfishness of the ‘idiots’, but you have a point. Rolling out the vaccine as quickly as we can, coupled with the inevitable herd immunity caused by the selfish party goers, may help to get this over with.

I think Sweden tried this.

It's gone terribly wrong

But there was no vaccine at the time Sweden tried this; surely now we have one that would make a difference to the outcome.

The Black Death killed 30-50% of Europe's population.

Even though, there was little understanding of infection, people did quarantine themselves. They stayed at home when possible and the wealthy went to live in the country.

It depends what kind of outcome you want. I don't think a few million deaths is doing anybody any favours.

LauraNorder

I, like you Bluebellwould, don’t condone the mass gathering and selfishness of the ‘idiots’, but you have a point. Rolling out the vaccine as quickly as we can, coupled with the inevitable herd immunity caused by the selfish party goers, may help to get this over with.

I'm not sure what you mean. Party goers don't cause herd immunity.

How I hate people being called idiots, morons, stupid, selfish etc etc This is just more of the blame blame blame culture of everyone not following the very vague and ever changing ‘rules’ to the way that some people feel they should
shinamae I m Bluebelle
Funnily enough I don’t totally disagree with you bluebellewould although I don’t think we actually know enough at this stage if we knew you couldn’t catch it twice or even if we knew you could catch it twice but the subsequent times would be very much weaker then I think it’s much the best way to go for herd immunity with weak ill or old shielding if wanted /needed but I suppose it’s all too vague to point us formally in that direction
Although I will have the vaccine when offered I m not at all sure that it will be the be all and end all a lot are expecting it to be we don’t know if it will keep us safe for a month, three months, a year we don’t know if it will stop us passing it on
I haven’t read anything about Sweden lately they went from herd immunity to a semi lock down last time I read not sure where it stands now
It’s very true I lived through two worldwide pandemics without any memory of it no lockdowns, no big fanfares no Internet, no TVs with constant news (well we didn’t have TV) no worldwide panic My memory of it all is almost zero unfortunately our children and grandkids today will be damaged and changed unlike me and my generation

The major flaw in this argument is the assumption that once people have caught the virus they will remain immune.

In addition I understand that if the virus spreads completely unimpeded it has the opportunity to continue constantly mutating, which may, after a while, result in a different type of disease.

I think there have been reports of people catching it twice - so the "herd immunity" theory seems to be flawed. What is needed is for as many people as possible to get the vaccine.

My daughter, an nhs nurse, has had it twice 7 months apart. It was no milder the second time. She needed a course of steroids and inhalers to treat her lungs due to shortness of breath and wheezing.

She’s back at work but not yet back to full strength. She’s completely drained of energy when she gets home from work.

Lucretzia I heard Sweden aimed to save the economy at the risk of losing the more vulnerable folk. Not sure how much of that was true as I heard it on BBC Radio 4.

I see where you are coming from bluebellewould. I'm no expert but this virus seems very unique. It does appear that the concept of herd immunity just leads to the virus mutating further apparently.
A poster commented about previous pandemics and how they didnt seem as disruptive. Maybe it's a reflection on how much more complex our lives are? In general one wage was enough to support a family so maybe there wasnt the need for childcare and for school to act as much in that role. Maybe schools were bigger and more ventilation with smaller classes.
People shopped and worked more locally.
Arguably employee rights were better and employment more secure.
Access to online information and online communication methods can be massively helpful,it can also be a source of conflict and anxiety.
I'm not for one minute suggesting the past was a golden place. I do wonder however if how many people live their lives conflicts with what is needed to deal with this crisis as best we can.

Oldwoman70

I think there have been reports of people catching it twice - so the "herd immunity" theory seems to be flawed. What is needed is for as many people as possible to get the vaccine.

The problem is on this thread is that people are using the term "herd immunity" differently. Herd immunity has "never" been achieved without a vaccine.

dorsetcupcake it was me that mentioned living through two previous pandemics I think it may be more about worldwide aeroplane travel today and I think if in March we had closed the airports we wouldn’t be in this pickle today
Schools were certainly in older style draughtier buildings but in fairness the kids have been shivering with windows open this time There was less obesity, more exercise, less food, less diabetes and much less moving around perhaps they played a part Funnily enough I was living in HK when the HK pandemic was raging I have no knowledge of it whatsoever
I have a school friend who had the Asian flu but I guess we were told she was off with a cold I certainly never knew she’d had it I do however remember some years when classrooms were sparse with flu breakouts (not pandemics)

It's interesting how you viewed it as a young person Bluebelle. I think one of my biggest worries is the emotional impact on my grandsons aged 5 and nearly 2. So many of the opportunities to play with friends have been restricted.
Yes everything from diets with a higher proportion of fast/processed foods to being relatively less active is catching up with us.!
I certainly think we should have stopped flights into the country.

There must be some immunity to covid as not everyone exposed to it gets it. I had Asian Flu in the 50s but none of my family went down with it not even my mum who nursed me.

AGAA4 a big problem is the fact that many who contract the virus are symptom free. They do not feel ill and are still walking around spreading it. Many were picked up in routine testing trials who would otherwise have gone unnoticed.

Why some are able to remain symptom free appears to be as yet an unsolved mystery.

I understand that Grannynannywanny ( what a great name) but I am talking about those who have been in close contact to Covid cases with no PPE and have tested negative later. May be good luck but possibly immune.

I thought you could get it again?

Someone from this country has just taken the virus into Shanghai. Why the devil are flights still operating ? Unless it stops, the virus won't.

Another thing people have been doing is crossing counties from a higher tier to a lower one.