Infection_Ag11 said:
dragmagpuff said:
fig96 said:
I feel like we need some context of other family members for the "66% in lockdown statistic" that we don't have. For one it doesn't account for typical errands that an individual might be doing and how safe they might be while doing them or whether they're disinfecting and washing their hands regularly.
It's also misleading because it ignores the fact that their case numbers have dropped off dramatically while people have been quarantining, so acting like social distancing didn't have any effect is pretty disingenuous.
I don't think DadHammer is arguing against a lockdown flattening the curve, but is saying that the area under the curve, and thus eventual deaths is the same as long as hospital resources aren't overwhelmed and the death rate doesn't improve significantly over time with new treatments that take time to develop.
That is what he's arguing, it's just wrong. In this case the transmission rate, and thus the area under the curve, changes with social behavior.
I completely understand that the herd immunity threshold increases the more contagious a virus is.
But maybe you can help me understand something.
There are obviously multiple components that affect the transmission rate.
We have seen the effects of human activity changes to bring the R<1. In a virgin population, the R can range from 0 (perfect lockdowns) to the "natural" unmitigated R0 at the baseline activity/interaction rate for a given population.
As cases develop, herd immunity effects start to impact the maximum natural transmission rate. (i.e start with 0 immune then 1 in 1000, then 1 in 100, then 1 in 10, then half).
What happens if you reach the herd immunity threshold via an artificially suppressed transmission rate, then go back to normal? If the virus is not completely eradicated, then does the herd immunity threshold "update" to the natural value?