The “perilously stretched thin healthcare system” and the “worst COVID-19 outbreak” refer to what is happening in the United States. It is predicted that a vaccine will take 18-24 months, and once restrictions relax, life as people know it cannot return, and “this is about the next two years.” It is not a question of how this end, but how will this continue. There is a lack of tests, medical supplies, and economic burdens, and a pandemic has never hit in modern times before. In the U.S. there have been 30,000 new confirmed cases every day, and one expert says that we’ll be on lockdown until at least May 20th, while another says until new case counts fall for 14 days. The chemical ingredients that testing companies are relying on are running low. It seems unrealistic that everyone who gets sick is going to get a test. Italy, China, and India have halted exports, backup medications are being searched for, doctors and nurses (healthcare workers in general) are overwhelmed and under-protected, patients have been putting off receiving help for heart problems, cancers, etc., rushed deployment leaves us with the question of what matters, the number of cases is really uncertain due to lack of testing and people with unknown or mild symptoms, herd immunity is needed but an epidemiologist/immunologist says we have not built it, contact tracing methods used in South Korea and Singapore are debated in the U.S. (“..sacrificing our privacy might be the best way to protect other freedoms”). Judicial ideas for restrictions would be to see if children spread the virus in schools, having restaurants spaced out. In science terms, viruses are harder and riskier to control because they are more likely to trigger cytokine storms which cause overreactions from immune systems that cause lots of damage. People may assume a false sense of security from immunity passports, which serve as a parallel to “yellow card” for yellow fever. There are unknowns with antibody testing (how many antibodies needed, their effectiveness in neutralizing the virus). There is a lot of victim-blaming with the targeted groups including low-income, Blacks, and elderly. Abled people are struggling with a new normal that is their old normal. “There is no going back. The only way out is through..”
