Read John Barry's book on the 1918 flu. We didn't figure anything out. The disease just ran its course. About all we did was figure out ways to treat some side issues, like pneumonia.
With regards to working on a vaccine, are they also concurrently working on a treatment they can give to people who have it? To help alleviate symptoms, etc.? I feel like those are two separate things - new meds for people who get it now, then take the time to create a vaccine to eventually prevent people from getting it in the first place. Aren't they two different things?
We didn't figure it out at the time, but did we figure stuff out since then?
I know we've spent 98% of our brainpower the last 98 years figuring out how to get people to buy more expensive cell phones, but we have had some progress in medicine and public policy, right?
Right?
Certainly none of the vaccines described above prevented viral influenza infection – we know now that influenza is caused by a virus, and none of the vaccines protected against it. But were any of them protective against the bacterial infections that developed secondary to influenza? Vaccinologist Stanley A. Plotkin, MD, thinks they were not. He told us, “The bacterial vaccines developed for Spanish influenza were probably ineffective because at the time it was not known that pneumococcal bacteria come in many, many serotypes and that of the bacterial group they called B. influenzae, only one type is a major pathogen.” In other words, the vaccine developers had little ability to identify, isolate, and produce all the potential disease-causing strains of bacteria. Indeed, today’s pneumococcal vaccine for children protects against 13 serotypes of that bacteria, and the vaccine for adults protects against 23 serotypes.
A 2010 article, however, describes a meta-analysis of bacterial vaccine studies from 1918-19 and suggests a more favorable interpretation. Based on the 13 studies that met inclusion criteria, the authors conclude that some of the vaccines could have reduced the attack rate of pneumonia after viral influenza infection. They suggest that, despite the limited numbers of bacteria strains in the vaccines, vaccination could have led to cross-protection from multiple related strains (Chien 2010).
most vaccines take 10-20 years to develop and get through clinical trials. I think it's unrealistic to hope we could be administering millions of doses of something in less than 12-18 months.
if the "reinfections" are testing errors or resurgence in someone not fully recovered, and we do actually develop some immunity after recovering, then after a while we can start reducing the social distancing and the disease won't rip through the population so quickly because some portion will have been expensed and have some degree of immunity. I think it would be a gradual return to normal. I don't think we can/will maintain things like school closures until there is a vaccine, but I would guess in-person school is done until the fall.
Unlike most strains of influenza, H1N1 does not disproportionately infect adults older than 60 years; this was an unusual and characteristic feature of the H1N1 pandemic.[9] Even in the case of previously very healthy people, a small percentage develop pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). This manifests itself as increased breathing difficulty and typically occurs three to six days after initial onset of flu symptoms.[10][11] The pneumonia caused by flu can be either direct viral pneumonia or a secondary bacterial pneumonia. In fact, a November 2009 New England Journal of Medicine article recommended that flu patients whose chest X-ray indicates pneumonia receive both antivirals and antibiotics.[12] In particular, it is a warning sign if a child (and presumably an adult) seems to be getting better and then relapses with high fever, as this relapse may be bacterial pneumonia.[13]
I don't need a vaccine. This disease is not going to kill me.
an old anti-malaria drug might be useful:
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/bst/advpub/0/advpub_2020.01047/_pdf
We didn't figure it out at the time, but did we figure stuff out since then?
I know we've spent 98% of our brainpower the last 98 years figuring out how to get people to buy more expensive cell phones, but we have had some progress in medicine and public policy, right?
Right?
I have a friend who owns a bank.
Is she hot? She sounds hot.
Is she hot? She sounds hot.
There were a lot of people unhappy with how fast the herd was moving in this country in response to the virus. Well boys, you got the herd spooked now.
Good luck.
Update from Minnesota Governor:
50,000 unemployment applications this week; 2,100 all of last year