"recovered" ? I haven't seen definitive evidence (esp. from epidemiologists) that having been infected either gives immunity or prevents infecting others.

"improbable" ? I have heard epidemiologists say their could be multiple 'waves' of disease. Do you think there is enough testing/tracing ? I don't.

@FearlessFly I don’t know, just going by what I read, which is that for every reported case there are ten to a hundred unreported. It seems impossible that a person who threw off the disease would not have natural immunity through antibodies. If through mutations there get to be numerous strains, as in the flu and common cold, then I can see how there could be recurring waves. In that case a vaccine might be of limited value.

Things are more complicated if there are carriers. I agree that extensive testing is needed.

@WilliamFleming You didn't address the issue of infecting others . . .

. . . what you have read ? :

[sciencealert.com]

[webmd.com]

[scientificamerican.com]

[wsj.com]

@FearlessFly I’ve read some of those articles, or similar articles.

Whether or not a recovered person is immune or is a carrier, the fact remains that the population can not stay locked down forever. We’ll have to take our chances and forge ahead. In comparison with historical epidemics this one is minuscule, with an extremely low mortality rate.

@WilliamFleming [latimes.com]

@FearlessFly I can’t read that without subscribing.

What is the gist of it?

@WilliamFleming [slang.org]

Have you tried TOR ?
(works for me in Firefox,Opera,Brave browsers)
[en.wikipedia.org]

@WilliamFleming [bostonglobe.com]

@FearlessFly I know that the Coronavirus is worse than the flu, and it needs to be taken seriously. Yet, in comparison with epidemics historically it is nothing. If this were happening in 1900 it probably wouldn’t even be noticed. Hell, maybe it has happened before, many times—that would explain why so many people are not affected.

Epidemics of old often killed three to nine percent of a population. For the Coronavirus one of the hardest hit countries in terms of deaths is Belgium. Belgium has lost six hundredths of one percent of its population, and most of those by far were elderly people with preexisting health conditions.

I just don’t see this epidemic as something to fear or worry over. Take sensible precautions for sure, but let’s not over-react.