James Stuart Williams
1 hr
Friends, I had a long discussion with myself this morning about putting out another update today. Yes, a 3rd update from me this week. I know folks are getting tired of reading about SARS-CoV2, but what the heck, since Gov. Abbott has decided to lock down Texas again, maybe y’all have nothing better to do on this holiday weekend than read more science!
So. I’m providing a link here to a longish article by J.B.Handley that provides a lot of information. It is not a quick read, but it isn’t a difficult one, either. It provides a lot deeper explanation of the concepts I touched on in both of my earlier posts this week. I have already read many of the articles cited in this piece, and there’s tons of good science here. Tonnes, for my Canadian and European friends.
This article delves into the epidemiology of the “herd immunity threshold” and explains why it seems to be around 20% for CoV2 world wide. Yes, as I wrote earlier this week, T-lymphocytes and prior exposure to other corona viruses are the probable reasons for that, but there is much more information here. If your scientific curiosity is as aroused as mine is, you may be spending much of today delving into this fascinating side of immunology.
It also goes a long way to explaining why we are seeing the current spike in cases here in Texas, and a few other states. Essentially, we have not yet reached HIT here in the South. But we are probably close. The current spike among young people is clearly an outcome of the large protests in June, and the subsequent transmission of CoV2 in the young adult subset of the population.
As the saying goes, the horse is out of the barn, there’s no point in slamming the barn door. Government reinstatement of lockdown measures will not provide any benefit at this point. Unfortunately, governors are political animals and they are reacting to the new level of hysteria and insanity being whipped up as usual by the dysfunctional American media.
Let me be clear here: I do not trivialize the fact that more people are getting sick with CoV2 now. This is a real and serious illness. But it isn’t the Black Death, or Ebola... heck, it’s not even measles! We are long past the containment phase, and we are even long past the “flattening the curve” phase.
Hospitals are busy, but not overwhelmed. Unlike NewYork City in March, hospitals in Houston are spreading the load out to utilize the whole city’s capacity instead of concentrating the burden in a few places. The same thing is happening in San Antonio and Dallas. We are coping effectively. (Remember the point of “flattening the curve”? We are seeing it in action right now.)
As the article states very well, “the sooner politicians—and the press—start talking about HIT and stop talking about ‘new’ confirmed cases, the better off we all will be. Either way, it’s likely to be weeks, not months, before the data of new daily deaths will be so low that the press will have to find something new to scare everyone.”
If you only read one CoV2 article for the rest of the pandemic, my friends, read this one. Check out the citations. You will be informed. You will be reassured.
As always, work at being kind to your fellow humans, friends. Keep on keepin’ on.
James S. Williams M.Sc. M.D.
https://jbhandleyblog.com/home/2020...PyOiFb9kmyuGy6hntH2eYVBHeQjuV73qfvug2pCo