More Hope Every Day

Was trying to explain to a friend on Second Life what I think I know about what's happening with COVID-19 and "flattening the curve."  Seemed to come out fairly clearly, so I wanted to share it here.

Do notice the disclaimer about two-thirds of the way down.  Applies to the whole shootin' match.  You get solid info from a pro, disregard me and go with what they tell ya. ...

If a few very lucky things happen, they might manage to make a usable vaccine quickly enough for some of us.

They have one vaccine they've done initial testing on, looks pretty good.  But they did a new kind of vaccine, nobody knows yet how to produce that sort of vaccine in large amounts. There are other people trying to modify measles vaccine to work on this virus.  Measles vaccine is easy to make a lot, they've been doing that for decades.  But will it be effective enough against this virus?  Don't know yet.  It takes time to test vaccines, to make sure they actually help, and that they don't do more harm than good.

And no, it's not measles vaccine, it's the same style of making vaccines.

The vaccine basically hands a piece of the virus, or a crippled version of the virus, to the body to tell it, "This is bad, and it's coming, make the stuff you need to get rid of it."  Often it works, often well.  But it's not magical, it's getting the body to do what it does before the virus shows up.

As for a cure, it's easier with bacteria. Viruses are harder.  And I'm not a doctor, you now know basically all I do. ;-)

Every time they treat one more person, they learn more about how to treat people.  So assuming there are enough healthcare professionals still able to work, they should be pretty smart on this stuff by the time we get past that big bump in the graph.  And every day they don't have to treat you and I and the other folks stuck in their homes is another day they have to find better ways to beat this stuff.

I'd never lie to you.  I don't want to give false hope.  But that doesn't mean there isn't any.  There's more hope every day.  Just need more days.