Chances Are...

[George K]

Good article, and the experience with delta seems to argue that he's right.

SARS-CoV-2 is here to stay.

[jon-nyc]

Yeah it’s endemic.

[Copper]

Once everyone gets it, there won't be a curve anymore, just flat

[Jolly]

The problem is that it's going to keep mutating, and we're going to keep getting infected.

Better find a better way to treat it.

[George K]

@jolly said in Chances Are...:

Better find a better way to treat it.

Yeah, and how's that worked out in the last 19 months? What do we have to show for it?

Bupkis.

It's still all symptomatic seat-of-the-pants stuff.

[Axtremus]

Vaccine is still the right way to go at this stage.
Reduce the severity of symptoms.
Reduce death and hospitalization.
Slow down the rate of mutation.
These three things keep the healthcare system from being overwhelmed and give the healthcare establishment time to improve the vaccines and treatment options.

Just take the vaccines. It does not conflict with the work on improving treatments.

[Jolly]

@axtremus said in Chances Are...:

Vaccine is still the right way to go at this stage.
Reduce the severity of symptoms.
Reduce death and hospitalization.
Slow down the rate of mutation.
These three things keep the healthcare system from being overwhelmed and give the healthcare establishment time to improve the vaccines and treatment options.

Just take the vaccines. It does not conflict with the work on improving treatments.

There are people that would argue vaccines increase the mutation rate of COVID.

[Jolly]

@george-k said in Chances Are...:

@jolly said in Chances Are...:

Better find a better way to treat it.

Yeah, and how's that worked out in the last 19 months? What do we have to show for it?

Bupkis.

It's still all symptomatic seat-of-the-pants stuff.

Hydroxy. Ivermectin. Etc.

I'd like to see good double-blind studies on those (among others) given at the appropriate time and correct dosage. Much of the work done previously is missing a lot of pieces. And I'd like to keep Big Pharmaceutical companies away from as much of it as possible. Let them do the work on the new stuff.

I'd also like to see a consensus "best practices" treatment regimen.

Lastly, the diagnostic testing has to be better. Many of the rapid flow tests suck. Some of the PCR stuff needs standardization. Antibody tests need standardization. We all need to hit the sane marks, no matter the manufacturer...The Nebraska Standards on A1c testing are a prime example.

[Copper]

@jolly said in Chances Are...:

There are people that would argue vaccines increase the mutation rate of COVID.

Yes, I saw that last week.

Mutate or die, I think the idea makes sense. I don't know of any real evidence yet.

But since it is an anti-vaxx idea, it will not enter the mainstream. I doubt there will ever be a way to measure it, but I would like to know.

[Axtremus]

@jolly said in Chances Are...:

@axtremus said in Chances Are...:

Vaccine is still the right way to go at this stage.
Reduce the severity of symptoms.
Reduce death and hospitalization.
Slow down the rate of mutation.
These three things keep the healthcare system from being overwhelmed and give the healthcare establishment time to improve the vaccines and treatment options.

Just take the vaccines. It does not conflict with the work on improving treatments.

There are people that would argue vaccines increase the mutation rate of COVID.

We can take that claim of causality seriously when they are data to support it.

Do you, @Jolly, think the Pfizer and Moderns vaccines help? If so, by how much?

[Loki]

@jolly said in Chances Are...:

@george-k said in Chances Are...:

@jolly said in Chances Are...:

Better find a better way to treat it.

Yeah, and how's that worked out in the last 19 months? What do we have to show for it?

Bupkis.

It's still all symptomatic seat-of-the-pants stuff.

Hydroxy. Ivermectin. Etc.

I'd like to see good double-blind studies on those (among others) given at the appropriate time and correct dosage. Much of the work done previously is missing a lot of pieces. And I'd like to keep Big Pharmaceutical companies away from as much of it as possible. Let them do the work on the new stuff.

I'd also like to see a consensus "best practices" treatment regimen.

Lastly, the diagnostic testing has to be better. Many of the rapid flow tests suck. Some of the PCR stuff needs standardization. Antibody tests need standardization. We all need to hit the sane marks, no matter the manufacturer...The Nebraska Standards on A1c testing are a prime example.

So many countries and the majority of the world’s population really don’t have high vaccination rates as plausible. A cheap effective treatment is the way to go. Why haven’t we seen more success when treatment is the only solution?

[Aqua Letifer]

@loki said in Chances Are...:

Why haven’t we seen more success when treatment is the only solution?

Pfizer was working on a treatment pill, but talk of that seems to have fizzled.

[xenon]

We haven’t figured out a treatment for the regular flu. That may or may not be instructive for COVID.

[Jolly]

Not quite. Some drugs like Tamiflu are very effective at reducing the severity of certain types of flu, if given at the right time, early during infection.