# When does it end? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [April 1, 2020, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-it-end/850796 "2020-04-01T12:23:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-it-end/850796/81 "2020-04-06T00:17:47Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > There are a few strains of this virus. Also, there are people who have been re-infected after recovery. There are at least two [genotypes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genotype) of the virus. I haven’t seen evidence that there is more than one [serotype.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotype) There are a few people who have gotten sick after recovering. It is not if they were re-infected, or just temporarily got better. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-it-end/850796/82 "2020-04-06T19:07:09Z")
> [@cmosdes](#): > > … > We know, factually, that people under 40 (even 50) are far less vulnerable to the worst of this virus. Exposing those people now, then quarantining them, means some percentage of them will need critical care which we can provide because in many areas the critical care facilities have capacity. If we wait, those same people who need critical care will need it at the same time the much more vulnerable will need it, and we run out of capacity. > > I can’t stress this enough. We cannot wait out this virus. It just isn’t feasible. As you’ve said many, many times, we need to reduce the peak of the critical care needs and spread it out over time. Waiting around for it to reach an area where it will spike is insane. This will, realistically, only go away when we have gotten 50% or more of the population exposed. We can do that with a huge spike at a given time or we can do that more slowly. If I had exposed myself 3 weeks ago I’d be immune and able to help out at assisted living places instead of sitting on my ass at home. There is a very small chance I’d have gotten critically ill, but in the end, I have that same chance just waiting around. I don’t want to be critically ill when hundreds of others in the same area are also critically ill. … Some younger people are indeed hit harder than expected (my husband knows a woman - a former co-worker - who was insanely healthy, and is still recovering from the the COVID pneumonia. She was not hospitalized, but I gather there was at least one ER trip. But yeah, I can definitely see the argument for “wishing I’d had it and gotten it over with”. I semi-facetiously wished that for myself: I’m higher risk, but hey - get that ventilator while it’s still there!. The question on lasting immunity is more concerning. I do know that as an adult, I’m less likely to catch colds than I was when I was younger - EXCEPT when my kids were school age. And once, about 28 years back, when a co-worker had been to Germany and returned with a nasty cold, which she shared with everyone who sat near her. My theory was that it was different enough from any virus we’d met before, that we had no lingering immunity. Does having a particular cold virus (rhino or corona) provide some lingering immunity that at least reduces the severity if you meet it or a close relative again? ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-it-end/850796/83 "2020-04-06T19:27:58Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Some younger people are indeed hit harder than expected (my husband knows a woman - a former co-worker - who was insanely healthy, and is still recovering from the the COVID pneumonia. She was not hospitalized, but I gather there was at least one ER trip. > > But yeah, I can definitely see the argument for “wishing I’d had it and gotten it over with”. I semi-facetiously wished that for myself: I’m higher risk, but hey - get that ventilator while it’s still there!. > > The question on lasting immunity is more concerning. I do know that as an adult, I’m less likely to catch colds than I was when I was younger - EXCEPT when my kids were school age. And once, about 28 years back, when a co-worker had been to Germany and returned with a nasty cold, which she shared with everyone who sat near her. My theory was that it was different enough from any virus we’d met before, that we had no lingering immunity. Does having a particular cold virus (rhino or corona) provide some lingering immunity that at least reduces the severity if you meet it or a close relative again? Ventilators are in reality not much of a rescue for Covid 19 cases who need one. The majority – the large majority – of ventilated patients die anyway. Those who live often have permanently damaged lungs or other damage because of the invasive procedure. The issue is that this virus creates so much more damage to lung tissue than usual pneumonias. [https://www.npr.org/2020/04/01/825499422/ventilators-can-save-lives-of-some-covid-19-patients-but-theyre-no-panacea](https://www.npr.org/2020/04/01/825499422/ventilators-can-save-lives-of-some-covid-19-patients-but-theyre-no-panacea) [https://www.physiciansweekly.com/mortality-rate-of-covid-19-patients-on-ventilators/](https://www.physiciansweekly.com/mortality-rate-of-covid-19-patients-on-ventilators/) ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-it-end/850796/84 "2020-04-06T20:43:25Z")
I just heard there are some states that don’t have Lockdowns. Have a much greater number of people died there? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-it-end/850796/85 "2020-04-06T21:11:00Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > I just heard there are some states that don’t have Lockdowns. Have a much greater number of people died there? Lockdowns have been slowly happening state-by-state. The remaining ones have very few cases _yet_. Georgia and Florida were rather late at it and were starting to get really hit. You won’t see any effects of lockdowns for several weeks in most cases. But the early places like on the West Coast are starting to look promising. The late lockdown states with significant cases might show higher than average deaths down the road. But with all things CV, the data is unpredictable at this point. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-it-end/850796.md?page=4)