Saturday, April 11, 2020

Restarting

We are starting to see discussions about rebooting the economy which has in some cases ground to a halt.  The primary issue is that once we return to normal, the virus will have a new opportunity to spread into the population.  We have relied on social distancing and self isolation so far since we have not had enough tests to determine who has or has not been infected, except for the already ill.

We seem close to an antibody test which very likely will identify those who should have immunity.  How many that will be is unknown.  The only place I have read that did an estimate was Austria, a very different country than ours where less than 1% of the sample had been infected.

If the numbers are that low here it is problematic but also helpful.  Still a small number of infected can start a chain of infections that can grow exponentially.

Because of the way the virus is transmitted the use of masks in any group setting and the washing of hands frequently should become a way of life.  The second thing should be aided by hand sanitizing machines.

Being immune will not mean you can't carry the virus home with you so it would seem that disposable outer ware would make sense.  It also makes sense that we institutionalize to the greatest extent possible people working from home.

Home delivery of goods would also help assuming the delivery people practiced safe procedures.

Ultimately we will have a vaccine that might enable full resumption of our previous habits.  Still that seems over a year away and practicing safe public behavior can be as effective as social distancing.


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