Surely, by now we feel we have a handle on the Coronavirus, don’t we? Think again. This is still a virus that is largely unknown, and our handling of the situation is certainly not perfect, and needs to follow ever-evolving guidelines:
- We don’t know the full consequences of getting sick.
- We don’t know who really is being affected (statistically, the old, but there are severe outliers).
- We don’t quite know how it spreads. Many buildings have central air, which may spread droplets. Surfaces are still probably a source of infection, depending on viral load.
- The reason we tell people to follow hygiene rules is that many people don’t.
- Most death counts are low-balled in all countries.
- We don’t know whether there will be immunity, and if so, how long it will last.
- We don’t know when it will be back – there will likely be further waves.
- We still have no proven treatments for ameliorating the disease – what there is, will need to be proven on a larger scale.
- Any vaccine development will take some time, and then vaccine production will take a while also, and not everyone will want to get vaccinated immediately.
- People are not always respecting the social distancing rules or the mask wearing guidances.
Sure, we will need to reopen the economy somehow. No serious person will deny that. But we will keep needing social distancing, probably wear masks, make sure not to be in crowded rooms, and be hygienic.
And stop with the conspiracy theories. The only conspiracy here was committed by the People’s Republic of China, and we will have to learn our lessons from that.
Erratic Attempts 