(05-05-2020, 07:50 AM)flyboy77 link Wrote:You do understand that the lock down we have experienced is not the way these pandemics are normally dealt with?Hmmm ... the infected are isolated. Those who haven't yet been shown to be infected or uninfected but who, for instance, have come from areas of infection are put into quarantine. Think horses coming in to run in the Melbourne Cup. Perhaps I'm being a bit pedantic. it's not as though you're an expert epidemiologist or medical practitioner. Nor am I. Us non-experts don't really know the terminology or niceties involved in this area. I guess that's why we need the experts.
Normally, you quarantine the infected and those who will be in deep poo poo if they catch it (the old and immuno compromised).
One of the difficulties with Covid-19 is that it is spread by asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic people. If only infected people turned purple or spat blood from their eyes, isolating the infected would be so much easier.
By the way, I was a bit stunned to find that I'm in the vulnerable category. When I went to the doctor for a check-up, he gave me a blood pressure test and it seems I have hypertension. My record was 164/108. And until Covid-19 came along, I was playing tennis and footy and had no symptoms. That's why they call it the silent killer. Apparently, half of Americans over 50 have elevated blood pressure and I guess Aussies would be similar.
The immuno-compromised might not be all that vulnerable. The immune response of older people might be too extreme: as with lupus, the cytokine storm attacks lungs and other organs and the damage pushes the patients closer to death. Younger people have a relatively weak immune response and that might be a godsend for them.
Strangely enough, some studies suggest nicotine might confer some protection against contracting Covid-19, with nicotine patches being assessed as a prophylactic. The downside for smokers is that they fare much worse if they do catch it.
Long story short, it's a bit hard to figure out who is vulnerable and who isn't. No doubt the experts will understand more as time goes on but armchair experts are kidding themselves if they think they know it all (Trump & Laura Ingraham, I'm looking at you).