Virus-what we need to know, what we do know, and what can be done now

Had my 1st face time (zoom) doctor’s appt. today with my internist. His interesting thoughts were this. It will take a minimum of one year developing a provable vaccine to combat COVID-19. Unfortunately, they now have identified at least 3 strains of the virus and we don’t know if one vaccine will apply to all the strains. Maybe and maybe not. In the meantime if possible he would have everyone in the country tested regardless of being symptomatic or not. Many people have had the virus and didn’t even know about it. Once we learn of how many people we know have or had the virus it becomes a matter of math. We can then extrapolate what we know about the present death rate to all known cases, reported or not, but tested, and if the death rate is significantly higher than the flu (i.e. 10% more) then our restrictions remain on course until a provable vaccine is in play. If significantly less (i.e. -5%) then we can open up our restrictions as to working, going out to eat, etc. Another fact is that since antibiotics are generally passed on by the mother if mom has had the virus as shown by the testing of a blood draw then the child is likely immune to the virus as well.

He said that California is really on top of the issue and will have tests within a week that can test the blood draw and provide an answer within 24 hrs.

In sum, the biggest part of this right now is getting as many people tested as possible and not waiting for only those that are symptomatic. That provides the evidence that can be extrapolated to determine what the true death rate will more likely than not be-all the while keeping up the research and testing for a provable vaccine-assuming it works on all the strains of COVID-19.