Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

edgefield0

Herd immunity? Assuming such a thing can exist for Covid and it doesn't mutate every season like influenza.

View on HN

Do we know it won't mutate? I was under the impression this was unknowable at this point.

There are already several mutations in circulation, so we know it does mutate. The questions remaining are:

* how much does it mutate?

* does exposure to one mutation lend immunity to another mutation?

* does exposure to one mutation lend immunity to the same mutation?

Herd immunity is commonly not well understood in my opinion by the general public. All it means is the point where the spread is no longer “viral” — as in for ever person that’s infected, that person infects less than 1.0 people. People still get infected, die, etc.

Higher the true R0 value for the virus, higher the threshold for reaching herd immunity and the eventual point the infection rate reaching 0.0; globally, without a vaccine, very possible corona will continue to exist years, if not longer.

> People still get infected, die, etc.

Yes, but fewer of them, which is the point.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com