Updating the Bingo card
The Federalist did what now?
Erm…have they forgotten that there is no effective treatment yet? Which means there is no such thing as “safe infection”?
Also…a dermatologist? Really?
What’s the thinking here? That taking C19 seriously is a libbrul thing, the way taking climate change seriously is a libbrul thing? That treating it with frivolity or reckless endangerment or both is a Trump-Republican thing? (If it is that means Princess Ivanka will have to come out in favor of it, because she announced she’s a “proud Trump-Republican” the other day.) The hitch in the plan here is that viruses don’t give a fuck about your politics, any more than climate change does.
No one ever does.
Meanwhile, in Kentucky….
Let’s hope nobody whispers this into Trump’s ear, or that nobody on Fox suggests it.
At the very least, we really ought to firmly establish whether re-infection is possible before going for this whole herd immunity thing. The two viruses that cause most common colds are coronavirus, and we have not developed lifetime immunity to them in millenia.
They do know A Modest Proposal was satire, right?
@Naif The application of herd immunity here is completely inappropriate. Epidemiologists use it to track historical epidemics and endemic diseases. It’s also used to model vaccination schedules. It is not, and it never should be applied as a strategic plan to contain a disease using actual infections.
It’s an unbelievably callous and dangerous idea and it needs to be nipped in the bud now. I am not being hyperbolic about this, this is Mengele level stuff.
The article is here:
https://thefederalist.com/2020/03/25/how-medical-chickenpox-parties-could-turn-the-tide-of-the-wuhan-virus/
I think some of the tweeters didn’t read it, specifically the “child labor” one. They frame this as something younger people, not necessarily children, could do. They ask whether it would be ethical for parents to decide for their children but don’t take a stand on that. There’s no hint of sending children to do adult jobs.
They don’t seem to have any liberal vs. conservative angle.
To me it’s an interesting think piece. A lot of people are having what-if conversations about this crazy situation, and I see it along those lines. If someone started seriously pushing this, especially with any sort of coercion implied, that would be another matter.
@Skeletor Since my comment and your comment posted very soon after each other, I am going to assume you did not read mine at #4.
To reiterate: It is not an interesting think piece. It is a horrific idea that will not contain the spread of the disease, kill otherwise healthy young people because lower risk does not mean you won’t die and cause a massive uptick in community spread, leading to exactly the sort of consequences social distancing is meant to prevent.
It’s not presented as a think piece at all, but as something we should “seriously consider.”
I can’t remember whether I previously linked to this thread…
https://twitter.com/NAChristakis/status/1240689935557865472
Christakis notes that a 1990’s study on a different Coronavirus showed that immunity dropped off by the time a year had gone by. The effectiveness of immunity will depend an awful lot on how quickly this particular virus mutates.
In any event, who cares. In the immediate context, if we run around exposing each other millions, literally, of people will die who don’t need to. The fact that those proposing the ‘get it over and done with approach are the same people who screamed about Death Panels under Obama Care, just makes them all the more sickening.
Skeletor, sometimes I get the distinct impression you think the rest of us can neither read nor think. Thanks, Claire, for a succinct statement from a scientifically literate person.
And using the term ‘Wuhan Virus’ is now an official denialist signal.