White House officially embraces “herd immunity” COVID strategy

[Rev. Rye]

The White House has embraced a declaration by a group of scientists arguing that authorities should allow the coronavirus to spread among young healthy people while protecting the elderly and the vulnerable — an approach that would rely on arriving at “herd immunity” through infections rather than a vaccine.
Many experts say “herd immunity” — the point at which a disease stops spreading because nearly everyone in a population has contracted it — is still very far-off. Leading experts have concluded, using different scientific methods, that about  to the coronavirus.
On a call convened Monday by the White House, two senior administration officials, both speaking anonymously because they were not authorized to give their names, cited an October 4 petition titled , which argues against lockdowns and calls for a reopening of businesses and schools.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/10/13/...irus-covid

It’s worth noting that a good-sized portion of this analysis in the Great Barrington Declaration hinges on the very questionable assumptions made by two scientists (Sunetra Gupta and Gabriela Gomes) that herd immunity could happen with COVID when 10-20% of the population gets it. Unfortunately, this is not really backed Up by the science.

[mediocrates]

"Not really backed up by science"

Exactly the kind of thing this white house would embrace.

[Duty]

It was recently confirmed that a man had contracted the virus twice, 2-3 months apart, and that the second infection was more injurious than the first. There is a reason the elderly need a flu jab every year - some viral antibodies have a short "shelf life" in the immune system. SARS-Cov2 appears to be one such virus, so any kind of "herd immunity" solution to the pandemic is almost certainly doomed to failure.

[brewer]

[Ranjr]

As if the White House purposefully infected dozens as part of well considered plan as opposed to thoughtless bumbling.  Yeah.  We meant to do that.

A month ago, Trump called it "herd mentality," which is beautifully ironic and a more accurate description.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

It’s called ‘herd immunity’ because a large segment of the population will drop like poleaxed cattle before any overall benefit is realized.

Boru

[Brian37]

It’s called ‘herd immunity’ because a large segment of the population will drop like poleaxed cattle before any overall benefit is realized.

Boru

Evolutionary immunity, isn't what the GOP wants it to be. Their version is more like the Nazi's view of life, "survival of the fittest". Evolutionary immunity is generational, multi generational over long periods of time. And even then, immunity for one thing, doesn't mean immunity for everything. The words "virus" and "bacteria" to those stupid morons, means all the same. But just like you have different species of bees, and plants, viruses and bacteria can be and are just as diverse and ever changing over time. 

The logical mistake Trump is fucking selling with his "I beat it" is that what hurts you DOES NOT makes you stronger. Having taken care of an a elderly mother, I get furious with bullshit cliches like that. I had a childhood friend who died in his 20s because of an un detected heart condition. 

It is true that health plays a role, and environment as far as chances. But evolution really ultimately isn't even about health. It is about adaptation, but more importantly getting to the point of reproduction.

One analogy I use to debunk the "fittest" myth goes like this. Say there are two guys at a bar. One guy is 6 foot 2 and built like "The Rock", totally fit, but has no kids. The other guy is 5 foot 6, 250 lbs, smoker, but has 4 kids. The fat guy spills a beer on the fit guy, the fit guy gets angry and wants to start a fight with the fat guy who is shorter. The short guy pulls out a gun, and kills the big "fit" guy. In evolution it is about adaptation. 

This virus will kill anyone, old, young and even healthy people in their 20s. "Herd immunity" is basically "let them eat covid."

[arewethereyet]

My older daughter has a group of friends who have been following the herd immunity method of dealing with the coronavirus. Surprisingly, it's worked for that particular group so far. I have a hunch the amount of alcohol consumed while bobbing around in a chlorinated pool has something to do with their luck thus far.

Side note - while out to vote this morning I had the local news radio station on. They come on and announce that Tarrant County schools (where Fort Worth is) are probably going to revert back to 100% virtual school due to the increase in cases lately. Immediately after that they announced that restaurants in that county (and others) can now open to full capacity per the governor's directive. Let's see how that works out for them. Buncha dumbasses.

[Brian37]

My older daughter has a group of friends who have been following the herd immunity method of dealing with the coronavirus.  Surprisingly, it's worked for that particular group so far.  I have a hunch the amount of alcohol consumed while bobbing around in a chlorinated pool has something to do with their luck thus far.

Side note - while out to vote this morning I had the local news radio station on.  They come on and announce that Tarrant County schools (where Fort Worth is) are probably going to revert back to 100% virtual school due to the increase in cases lately.  Immediately after that they announced that restaurants in that county (and others) can now open to full capacity per the governor's directive.  Let's see how that works out for them.  Buncha dumbasses.

UGGGGGGGGG....... On a "bat shit insane related note".

Florida Gators coach was in the news he wanted the 90,000 seat stadium packed for the upcoming Gator/LSU game........ DISPITE 19 players contracting the virus.

This as as fucking stupid logic as the sects of Christianity who use rattlesnakes in their church services.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

It’s called ‘herd immunity’ because a large segment of the population will drop like poleaxed cattle before any overall benefit is realized.

Boru

Evolutionary immunity, isn't what the GOP wants it to be. Their version is more like the Nazi's view of life, "survival of the fittest". Evolutionary immunity is generational, multi generational over long periods of time. And even then, immunity for one thing, doesn't mean immunity for everything. The words "virus" and "bacteria" to those stupid morons, means all the same. But just like you have different species of bees, and plants, viruses and bacteria can be and are just as diverse and ever changing over time. 

The logical mistake Trump is fucking selling with his "I beat it" is that what hurts you DOES NOT makes you stronger. Having taken care of an a elderly mother, I get furious with bullshit cliches like that. I had a childhood friend who died in his 20s because of an un detected heart condition. 

It is true that health plays a role, and environment as far as chances. But evolution really ultimately isn't even about health. It is about adaptation, but more importantly getting to the point of reproduction.

One analogy I use to debunk the "fittest" myth goes like this. Say there are two guys at a bar. One guy is 6 foot 2 and built like "The Rock", totally fit, but has no kids. The other guy is 5 foot 6, 250 lbs, smoker, but has 4 kids. The fat guy spills a beer on the fit guy, the fit guy gets angry and wants to start a fight with the fat guy who is shorter. The short guy pulls out a gun, and kills the big "fit" guy. In evolution it is about adaptation. 

This virus will kill anyone, old, young and even healthy people in their 20s. "Herd immunity" is basically "let them eat covid."

Herd immunity is not evolutionary, Brian. It’s possible to achieve herd immunity in much less than a generation. This has nothing to do with evolution or adaptation.

Boru