PSA: I don’t mean to sound rude by asking this, but this has been on my mind for awhile now:
Ever since the virus started making major headlines back in March up until today, 1 to 2 people, who I personally know, have fully recovered after being infected by the virus.
I’m now starting to wonder why a majority of the people that I personally know or work with have not gotten sick from the virus, yet, including me as well, despite following the rules of social distancing and proper mask wearing.
On an extra note, after working at a major retail store during the spring and summer, I’m grateful to be healthy and virus free since the very beginning.
You’re surprised that following the scientific guidelines to minimize the chance of catching the virus has worked?
In any event, it’s well established that the great majority of people who catch the virus don’t get very sick, or are completely asymptomatic. So you don’t know that you have been virus-free.
Why is there so much variance in response to the virus, even after taking into account risk factors like age and other preexisting medical conditions?
(1) Genetics. This may include such things as variants in the cell surface proteins that the virus interacts with; blood type has been implicated; and almost certainly HLA haplotype will be a factor, an aspect of the immune system that has evolved to be highly variable in the popluation, for the express purpose of ensuring that a pathogen that can evade one person’s immune system cannot necessarily evade everyone’s immune systems.
(2) A significant proportion of the population may have acquired some degree of cell-mediated immunity due to prior exposure to other coronaviruses.
I’m working half days at the office and half at home. NO ONE is allowed in my office. Everyone wears a mask, and we distance. Except for not being able to hug family members, it hasn’t affected me a lot. I consider myself very lucky.
As per Snowboarder_Bo’s daily posts in the Breaking News thread on the COVID-19 numbers, as of yesterday, there were 5,841,428 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. 5.8 million is a lot of people, but that’s still only 1.8% of the U.S. population.
So, unless you live in an area that’s been hard-hit (e.g., New York City, portions of Florida, Arizona, and California, etc.), or you have a lot of interaction with elderly and other at-risk people, odds are pretty high that you still wouldn’t know many people who’ve definitively had the virus.
That may well be the case, but those people don’t know they had COVID, and that gets back to the OP’s point. “I know almost no one who’s had COVID” is really “I know almost no one who’s had a positive COVID test,” and between asymptomatic infections, and people who were unable to get a test, it’s entirely likely that the OP does know more people who’ve had it (but were unaware of it, or whose infection was never proven via a test).
First off, did you forget a not, or are you surprised the recommended controls are helping?
Second, I don’t think we fully understand why some people are hard hit with limited exposure while others are uninfected or asymptomatic despite ignoring protective measures.
@Riemann has listed a couple of factors. Additionally,
Blacks and Hispanics and Native Americans have been disproportionately affected. Do socio-economic factors account for all of this, or is there some genetic factor at work?
More affluent people with white collar jobs are more likely to be able to telecommute or work from home. Wage earners are more likely to have to work on site, whether they are store employees, construction workers, home repair craftsman, janitorial services, or whatever. Except for call center workers, service industry typically requires on site work.
Multigenerational homes put more risk of exposure on the more vulnerable, both through mixed age group interactions and crowded living conditions.
Higher population density increases risk. Urban areas are more exposed than rural. Travel is more likely in urban areas, giving more cross exposure.
Health care workers, especially those in hospitals treating covid, are at greater risk despite better and greater PPE and stricter adherence to protocols. Exposure levels seem to affect the strength of the infection.
These are known of not fully quantified or understood. There may be other reasons.