It's starting to seem like it's not terribly possible here in the States, and we are being told that if we can't get 70% vaccinated, we can expect more variants and flare-ups, especially in red states, where there is more vaccine hesitancy, later this fall and winter.  I'm pining for a work-from-home job, therefore.

I for one do not believe that "natural" herd immunity is possible with this virus. 

Many cases of the common cold are caused by coronaviruses, so I'm not convinced that immunity is all that long-lasting.  

Anyone who has access to one of the proven vaccines should get at least one dose, and hopefully both, since research is now showing that both doses confer superior and longer-lasting immunity. 

I've read that the Chinese vaccine is not very effective based upon recent studies, see below. 

We aren't over the finish line yet, folks!  My home state of Arizona is one of the states lagging in vaccination, and the states that are lagging may turn into "variant engines," responsible for new and more aggressive forms of the virus.   Whatever the reason why people refuse vaccination, they better get over it.  

Sometimes I think of myself as Irish, sometimes English.  But I am (for my, obviously considerable, sins) resident in the UK.  So I feel "Thrown to the wolves" by my government.  

This is not the way to go.  Don't believe me, ask a scientist.

"Herd stupidity!"  I like that......

I prefer the word lemmings.  

But really, it is pretty fun to say that herd stupidity has been reached .   

ME 163 

I got told by a friend (not even a particularily stupid one) a couple of weeks ago, that immunised people were getting magnetised arms at the injection sites.

I know!   I know!                  I'm just saying....    

Allthough ,since I've had the AZ I feel very virile .....

Like I been swimming in the pool with cocoons in it.........

Much better than Rino-horn....

See the sheep flock to the vaccine sites ....

😂....sorry .......

But it would improve vaccine rates I'm sure .......

Take care all 😷😉

Thanks Josh, that sounds like a reasonable scenario, but depressing as we will not reach herd immunity.

Anyway:-

Well I do understand how the younger people of Sydney are feeling. Over here we're being told that the symptoms of the Delta virus are like a bad cold, and none of us are afraid of a bad cold. We've all had them. They are an inconvenience and unpleasant but they pass and we get better and all's well. If I were 20 then I wouldn't be worrying about Covid and I would be wanting life to continue as normal, and the thing is that in Sydney there is a very young culture. It's all Bondi beach and the clubs and combine that with good weather and who cares about catching a cold? 

The problem comes with the older generations who are scared for themselves and so therefore want to curtail the younger generation's activities in the vain hope that it will save the older people from a more extreme illness. Casting my mind back to my 20's, that wouldn't even have been on my radar. I went and partied one new year's eve in Edinburgh and the next one in Sydney and had anyone suggested that I stay at home to help the elderly, I'd have openly laughed in their face. So I don't think we can blame the youth of today. We were all young once.

I have teenage children and there's no way I'll let them have these experimental vaccines just to lessen the symptoms they might have from catching a cold. The vaccines do not have their safety approvals and won't have them for many years yet because they can't get them until their long term and short term effects are known, and thankfully that's a process that can't be sped up because time ticks away at it's own slow pace. My children aren't guinea pigs, and no one else's children should be either. We need to put this disease in perspective and stop having a knee jerk reaction to it. It's one thing for the vulnerable and the elderly to choose to try out an experimental vaccine but entirely another to expect young people to take it too. My personal feeling is that no one of child bearing age should have it. There are too many known unknowns and far too many unknown unknowns, and it's the latter that is the real worry.

Reuters: Locked-down Sydney warned worse may be ahead, COVID-19 cases at 2021 high.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australias-new-south-wales-reports-2021-record-daily-rise-covid-19-cases-2021-07-10/

A lot of younger people in ICU......

Delta is not a cold.....

It's still a "NOVEL" virus.....

Take care all 😷😉

The problem with the concept of herd immunity for SARS-CoV2 is this....as long as pockets of infection continue to burn in the global human population, new variants will constantly be generated, and even vaccinated folks likely won't all be resistant to these variants. 

https://tucson.com/news/local/2-vaccinated-people-in-pima-county-have-died-of-covid-19/article_c368a556-dec0-11eb-bf4b-571c183c2ccb.html

Influenza relies upon an avian reservoir, wherein the virus infects and mutates various birds.  There are fascinating studies showing the outbreak of influenza along the flight ways of migrating waterfowl.  

https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/JVI.03249-14

Spread and Persistence of Influenza A Viruses in Waterfowl Hosts in the North American Mississippi Migratory Flyway

This study shows that within the MMF, AIV gene flow favors spread along the migratory corridor within a season, and also that intensive surveillance during bird migration is important for identifying virus dispersal on time scales relevant to pandemic responsiveness.

However, at this point, the primary reservoir for the SARS-CoV2 virus is humanity itself.  If we could isolate infectious cases and drive vaccination to the greatest extent, we could wipe the virus out of humanity. 

The first SARS outbreak was contained and beaten back without the benefit of any vaccine whatsoever.  Aggressive shoe-leather epidemiology and good public health hygiene managed to snuff that virus before it became a true global menace.  SARS was a deadlier disease than COVID-19, and this helped to motivate folks. 

Also, we didn't have idiots all over the Internet in 2003, spreading lies for various political reasons.   

SARS-CoV2 will be with us for a long time, my friends.  We don't seem to have the willpower to do what is necessary to snuff it out.   Get your vaccine and importantly, WEAR YOUR MASKS & CONTINUE TO DISTANCE.  If you are in the company of folks who are also vaccinated, you can drop your guard.  However, we are still learning about this unique spillover virus, and it continues to amaze.

Be safe, please.  Hugs from C.

Techno, don't worry, we all did think we were going to live forever.  I had friends who were into extreme sports and stuff.  As for myself, I didn't have any illusions about my body. Yes, I took care of it .  I was a careful person.  I learned from history.  This pandemic is like the 1918 flu in it's historical equal.  I believe that this one will take time to beat.  It's remarkable that we can produce a vaccine. In my 20'a I took care of a man with cancer, mainly bookwork and night duty.  He lived thru the pandemic of 1918. He told me that people were dropping dead in the middle of the street.  5000 people died a week in New York City.  in fact, there was a case of four women who played cards in the morning and by nightfall all of them were dead form the flu.  George, lost his mother, his aunt and his cousin in the space of 3 days.  This Covid is a nasty, brutal, hard hitting virus.  8 months of fighting it is an education in fighting this virus.  It went the distance with me and  many times I was on the ropes. If I had not had the best of every weapon that western  medicine could pull out of its arsenal, VIcki and I would be six feet under.   I am conviced that it will get worse before it gets better.  

ME163

Technophobe wrote: This is not just the selfish stupidity of youth;  politicians, industry and economists are all missing the big picture, focusing instead on the immediate consequences in their own fields.  WE ARE STORING UP BIG PROBLEMS FOR THE FUTURE. I wish more countries were like New Zealand, but that kind of foresight is very rare. I am already old enough to contemplate my mortality and accept its inevitability. Obviously, I don't want to shorten my remaining years, but even more importantly, I don't want to shorten those of my whole species..... 'AND THAT IS WHAT WE ARE CURRENTLY DOING! The only codiçil to that is that we do not yet know by how much.

You are absolutely right Techno, it's the short term solutions that are convenient to the politician that will and have caused the problems. Look at the effects of appeasing industry and not shutting borders! If only the rest of the world had flicked the off switch and had shut down global travel and imposed a full on lockdown in Feb 2020. It would have stopped Covid in it's track. I've often thought that if, knowing what we all know now, we could turn back the clock to Feb 1st 2020, the world would happily agree to stop moving for 6 weeks, and then we could resume life as normal and this whole nightmare would never happen. 

As for shortening the lifespan of the species, yes I think that's happening right before our eyes. We are living through a pivotal point in human history and children of the future will learn about this period in school. Just think how many essays will be written entitled "Mistakes made in 2020".

The simple fact is that we don't  know what the long term impacts of covid are going to be.  I am waiting for the next shoe to drop. 

This long covid is an ongoing struggle.