That’s not how evolutionary pressure works.
Remind me - what are your credentials in drug discovery and viral research?
And have you read the science paper and the cited papers ? You don’t understand how resistance mechanisms work in viral drugs
It’s basic evolutionary statistics, nothing particular to viruses or drugs. The vaccinated population isn’t large enough for herd immunity so it’s a huge opportunity for / pressure to create evasive mutations.
It’s obvious that you don’t understand basic viral drug discovery- but as others have often have pointed out, you like to be contrarian even if it shows your ignorance
We’re not disagreeing, just talking at cross purposes.
Routinely dosing millions of cattle with antibiotics guarantees the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Planting millions of acres of glyphosate-resistant GMO crops and routinely spraying them with glyphosate guarantees the evolution of glyphosate-resistant weeds.
Vaccinating a substantial fraction of the population against Covid but not enough to achieve herd immunity guarantees the evolution of vaccine-evading variants.
Yes, and “the population” really means worldwide. And more or less at the same time and against the same contemporary variant(s), a tall order.
a glimmer of hope for the long-term
Yeah, those have been in the research phase for years. I think the pandemic scared up some additional funding.
And just to add that herd immunity is a function of transmissibility - which means with the extremely high transmissibility of BA5 we are not any longer talking about 80-90% vaccination rates as with the “old” variants two years ago but >95% worldwide against the same variants - we should be realstic that herd immunity for Covid isn’t achievable any longer.
Do you have death numbers in LA ?
I wish Barbara Ferrer would start reading the science:
1 Like
The available data also suggests that more than half of Americans have had Covid in the past six months, making many of them unlikely to contract it again now.
Except it looks like having had a previous variant may provide little or no immunity against BA.5. And every additional infection may increase the chance of long Covid
2 Likes
Yep! Totally anecdotal, but this week it’s felled three people I know also got it in May. And both times with symptoms. All three Vaxed and boosted. They will recover fine like last time, but it’s still a major disruption from work and life. Half the effect of getting this thing is how it messes with your emotions…
–Dommy!
2 Likes
The entire premise of the article was… flawed. There was this nugget:
During an acute crisis — such as the early months of Covid, when masks were one of the few available forms of protection — strict guidelines can nonetheless make sense. Public health officials can urge people to wear tightfitting, high-quality masks and almost never take them off in public. If the mandate has even a modest benefit, it can be worth it.
But this approach is not sustainable for years on end. Masks hinder communication, fog glasses and can be uncomfortable. There is a reason that children and airline passengers have broken out in applause when told they can take off their masks.
I literally work in a field where communication is key. While wearing a mask is certainly awkward, but, surprisingly, I actually haven’t actually noticed it hindering communication that much. My glasses don’t fog much.
Yeah, they’re uncomfortable… But so is being sick.
::shrug::
David Leonhadt should not be writing about the pandemic.
The evidence suggests that broad mask mandates have not done much to reduce Covid caseloads over the past two years.
What evidence? During the first year of the pandemic, before vaccines were available, they were clearly effective. For example, there were tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths in Florida because of DeSantis’s anti-mask idiocy.
1 Like