(11-09-2021, 10:00 PM)BostonCard Wrote: I get the frustration. We’ve been living through this for 20 months. If vaccinated, their risk of severe disease is very very low. At some point, as Lex notes, we are just going to have to bite the bullet and call this an endemic virus, accept that people will catch COVID-19 in the way that they catch a cold, and in most cases have people take it easy for a few days until they recover. But that will mean that seasonally, Vulnerable patients will die from COVID at rates hopefully no higher than influenza.
BC
The death rate from Covid remains at least 10 times that of the usual Flu death rate. And that's in the face of masking and related rules in many states. Getting back to "normal" is going to depend on our tolerance for death and disability. (I think most people are unaware of the high rate of disability after Covid infection.) Flu killed 20 to 50 thousand a year prior to Covid. Currently we're running about 500,000 a year with Covid. As the population becomes more immune over time that will drop. I don't really know when life will be "normal," but in the medical profession we will likely wear masks in close patient interactions for a decade. The Cal case shows how you can spread Covid without knowing you have it. Can't have medical professionals doing that.
I haven't seen a single documented Flu case yet this season. I had one last year. Masking and isolation certainly stops some viruses. Oakland Unified School District is sending every kid home for 10 days with any viral symptoms and it has been pretty effective. I have seen a bit of Rhinovirus, RSV and Parainfluenza. Kids are spreading those around at daycare. A little Covid but that's only about 5% of the tests that I'm doing right now.


