Some states are starting to reopen, and many residents are eager to get back to the old normal. It shows up in the data: half the states now rate an F on the social distancing scorecard, and only 5 beat a D+. In a month or two, we’ll find out if relaxing was a mistake.
On a personal level, here’s an informative guide to avoiding infection in a reopened world. There’s a lot to be said for not catching Covid-19. It may lose you some work time due to sickness or quarantine. You may die from it, or survive with reduced lung capacity and/or blood clot damage. Or, maybe you infect someone you care about.
On a larger scale, what happens next is hard to see. There are plenty of better experts out there, but here are some guesses on what the new normal will be like.
- Covid-19 is here for the long haul. It escaped containment and is almost everywhere. Even if some regions stamp it out, someone without symptoms can bring it back in. The disease may reach “herd immunity” eventually, but that will take a few years.
- Covid-19 may be permanent. Immunity to the 4 species of Coronavirus that cause common colds only lasts a year or two, so they keep circulating. Odds are good that Covid-19 becomes #5. If so, it gradually will become less lethal in the really long haul (decades to centuries). Until then, it will need a vaccine. Maybe an annual one, similar to influenza.
- Developing a vaccine won’t be quick or easy. Trials have already started, but it takes time to ensure a new treatment is both safe and effective. Previous vaccines developed for Coronavirus diseases in pigs, chickens and dogs had problems. The stakes are higher for humans. After that, ramping production into the 100 millions will also be challenging. 18 months seems the best guess, give or take a few.
- More testing is needed. Most tests done so far check for viral RNA in the deep part of your nose: it tells if you currently are infected. Simpler saliva tests are in the works. What’s also needed is antibody testing, to see who was previously infected. That includes folks who didn’t show any symptoms. Knowing the overall infection rate helps for planning, and helps catch outbreaks before they become deadly.
- Still need some social distancing. Large group events of any kind will be risky until there’s a vaccine. People may need to wear masks routinely. The current social distancing measures pushed the R value below 1, but it needs to stay there for a long time. Hopefully there’s a sweet spot so life can go on without killing health workers or grandma.
- Still need contact-tracing and quarantines. As long as the virus is still circulating, there’s always the risk it grows out of control. State and local health departments have dealt with a few dozen infectious diseases over the past century, and this will be one more that needs attention.
- The economy will be weird for years. Money is just an arbitrary concept, so in theory we should be able to cancel a few months and get everyone squared up. In practice, nobody has any idea how to actually do that. This new recession isn’t like previous ones. There’s a lot to unravel.
- The economy will never be the same. Priorities will change. It’s hard to guess what 2022 will be like, but it won’t be 2019.
- More Covids are coming. This is the third Coronavirus outbreak since 2003. It’s unlikely to be the last. The next one may spread faster or slower. It may be more lethal, or less.
- Other pandemics are coming. Influenza sometimes gets deadly. There are always wildcard viruses like Ebola and Zika. Maybe something brand new. Humans are overpopulated and crowded. Nature tends to fix that with diseases.
- It would help to be more ready. CDC and FEMA kinda dropped the ball, as did many others. We need better prep on all levels: personal, business, county, state, national, global. Fortunately, I think Covid-19 was bad enough to be a wake-up call for most people.
Dennis Kolva
Programming Director
TurtleSoft.com
