# Will the coronavirus ever really end?



## Sunny (Mar 30, 2020)

Looking ahead, it seems to me that official cut-off dates for quarantines, etc. are just so much PR.  The fact is, no one knows how much worse this will get before it gets better, if it ever does.  If all the "lockdowns," etc. are ended by the end of April, will you really be willing to take your chances and return to living as if you were transported back a few months in the past, before anyone had ever heard of this disease?  If you are in the high-risk group (which includes many of us on this forum), will you ever be free of this dark cloud hovering over you?

Well, yes, but only if one thing happens that I can think of: a vaccine.  But even that will probably take years to develop and test, and who knows how long to manufacture?  This won't be over in a few weeks or a few months, folks. (I'd love to be wrong about this!)


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## Don M. (Mar 30, 2020)

No one knows how long this epidemic will last, or if/when an effective treatment will be found.  Presently, many officials are telling everyone to stay put through April, but I suspect that timeframe will continue to get pushed back every few weeks....probably well into Summer.  I doubt that a vaccine will be available before next year....development, testing, manufacturing, etc., will take months, at least.  

The best estimates, from the scientists, etc., say that over 2 million will be infected, and at least 100,000 will die...just in the U.S.  Those number will probably change nearly every week for the foreseeable future....since no one knows anything resembling certainty, at this point.  

2002 is going to be a Very Trying year, for the vast majority of people.


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## chic (Mar 30, 2020)

Dr. Fauci believes it will resurge next year in the winter. A vaccine is probably 12-18 months away due to necessary testing. I don't think we'll be quarantined that long though.


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## Keesha (Mar 30, 2020)

Sunny said:


> Looking ahead, it seems to me that official cut-off dates for quarantines, etc. are just so much PR.  The fact is, no one knows how much worse this will get before it gets better, if it ever does.  If all the "lockdowns," etc. are ended by the end of April, will you really be willing to take your chances and return to living as if you were transported back a few months in the past, before anyone had ever heard of this disease?  If you are in the high-risk group (which includes many of us on this forum), will you ever be free of this dark cloud hovering over you?
> 
> Well, yes, but only if one thing happens that I can think of: a vaccine.  But even that will probably take years to develop and test, and who knows how long to manufacture?  This won't be over in a few weeks or a few months, folks. (I'd love to be wrong about this!)


This isn’t a question that can be properly answered without adding politics to it. Trump is predicting when this ‘should’ be over which may not be accurate. 

My life doesn’t change much at all but my husbands does and he still has to go to work.
Luckily our government will compensate those who are affected and hopefully that will work out.I hope everyone is compensated who is affected by this.

In reality nobody knows when this will be over. In my opinion, our world is never going to be the same again. Perhaps I’m being too serious about this but I can’t see the world bouncing back after the end of April but hopefully I’m wrong.


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## toffee (Mar 30, 2020)

they  are testing as we speak in the UK. on people who have it now ' developed at oxford university science labs ..
lets keep all fingers crossed there is a break through with it .........


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## todalake (Mar 30, 2020)

Lots of different vaccines being developed now.  Problem is  getting thru the clinical trials to make sure there is not a dangerous side effect.    How long will that take?     Not like a experimental drug used as a last resort for somebody in ICU.   My son did have the experimental drug,   when we signed the ok,   was not told if placebo or experimental drug.   It did save him.


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## debodun (Mar 30, 2020)

Even if it seems like it has disappeared, a pathogen can remain dormant in the population then re-emerge at a later time (or mutate).


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## Catlady (Mar 30, 2020)

My opinion only, I could be 100% wrong.

I think Covid-19 will be a lot like the Spanish Flu.  The SF came out in the spring of 1918 for 3 months, went dormant and came back in October with a vengeance and again in the spring of 1919, that's when most of the people died.  The whole thing lasted 18 months to 24 months, no one could agree.

The SF was made worse because it was wartime and the virus traveled with the infected troops.  This virus is made worse because the population is much larger but it's being mitigated by social distancing and quarantining.  So, I figure it should be over (hopefully)  by December 2022, a very long time from now (2 years).   I'm going to hang on to my spare cash and will keep my food and supplies hoarding well stocked, just in case.


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## chic (Mar 30, 2020)

I would agree with you @Catlady, but they didn't/couldn't quarantine back then like we can now. People can stay inside, communicate with others, shop, order food etc. Back then people had to go out for those things which is why I think, it lasted so long. Also, they didn't have antibiotics then.

But, back then the economy soared after the epidemic ended because businesses never had to close nor did countries have to go into serious debt as a result of quarantining everything. Now the financial picture looks incredibly dismal to me in the U.S. at least.


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## Pepper (Mar 30, 2020)

My mother used to tell me that i.e. milk was sold from a huge round wooden bucket with a ladle that was used by everyone, and the milk was not covered.  You would bring your own container for the milk.  
Then she would say, "but we lived through it."  In the meantime, she had Scarlet Fever and my dad as a child born during SF had smallpox & a rheumatic heart.


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## win231 (Mar 30, 2020)

My prediction:  They'll come out with a vaccine around the time the virus dies down & much fewer people are getting it.  But, by then, there will be sufficient fear to sell it, whether it works or not, which it probably won't - any better than the flu shot.
All they would have to say is:  "The vaccine will prevent another pandemic" & "Everyone should get the vaccine to prevent more Social Isolation & closing of businesses again."  People will line up in droves.


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## chic (Mar 30, 2020)

win231 said:


> My prediction:  They'll come out with a vaccine around the time the virus dies down & much fewer people are getting it.  But, by then, there will be sufficient fear to sell it, whether it works or not, which it probably won't - any better than the flu shot.
> All they would have to say is:  "The vaccine will prevent another pandemic" & "Everyone should get the vaccine to prevent more Social Isolation & closing of businesses again."  People will line up in droves.



Will it be free if people are so broke from being out of work for so long that they can't afford it?


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## CarolfromTX (Mar 31, 2020)

Someone will develop a vaccine.


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## win231 (Mar 31, 2020)

chic said:


> Will it be free if people are so broke from being out of work for so long that they can't afford it?


It will probably be free to patients.  Medicare/Medical or the insurer will cover it.  Or, it will be free "to anyone over 65" or in a "high risk group."  The manufacturers/sellers won't care; they'll get their money.


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## bingo (Mar 31, 2020)

we just don't know


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## RogerDodger (Mar 31, 2020)

I think there are lots of different possibilities:

A vaccine is developed and administered.
The virus mutates and becomes worse. This would mean a vaccine would have to chase a changing virus. Not a good scenario.
The virus mutates and becomes better. This appears to be what happened to the 1918 Spanish Flu. It literally just disappeared. There was no vaccine.
We create fast, cheap, easy tests for the virus. This would allow some economic activity to begin again. For example, maybe you would have to be tested before you go into a grocery store (or any other store) to verify that you don't have the virus. This would not eliminate the virus, but might reduce the risk enough that most normal life could resume. 
No vaccine can be developed and all we do is step 4. The virus still kills, but it is slowed down and maybe better treatments are found to lower the mortality rate.
Did I miss any other crazy possibilities?


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## Judycat (Mar 31, 2020)

Feels like it will last forever doesn't it.


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## RadishRose (Mar 31, 2020)

Welcome RogerDodger!


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## C'est Moi (Mar 31, 2020)

Judycat said:


> Feels like it will last forever doesn't it.


Yes.


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## PopsnTuff (Mar 31, 2020)

Another welcome to the SF forum @RogerDodger


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## StarSong (Apr 1, 2020)

Someone will develop a vaccine and 50% of the population will refuse to get it.


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## Robert59 (Apr 1, 2020)

I have family that knows someone that works in the hospital in New York that said this will last till Aug.


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## Fiona (Apr 1, 2020)

Robert59 said:


> I have family that knows someone that works in the hospital in New York that said this will last till Aug.



But when the virus tails off in New York is likely to be much earlier than in the rest of the country, just as the peak prevalence and death toll is going to be earlier in New York. We're seeing that happening already: except for a few pockets in other places, New York is ahead of the rest of the country, timewise, in the course of this epidemic.


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## Ladybj (Apr 1, 2020)

chic said:


> Dr. Fauci believes it will resurge next year in the winter. A vaccine is probably 12-18 months away due to necessary testing. I don't think we'll be quarantined that long though.


I won't take the vaccine.  I am sure it will come with many side effects..   However, if it help people that is the important thing.


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## Ladybj (Apr 1, 2020)

StarSong said:


> Someone will develop a vaccine and 50% of the population will refuse to get it.


I am in the 50 percent category.


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## chic (Apr 2, 2020)

I was wrong about Dr. Fauci saying the virus would resurface next winter. He is now saying, as of yesterday anyway, it will resurface this fall. Vaccine is still 1 year to 18 months away.


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## Aunt Bea (Apr 2, 2020)

I agree with others that a vaccine will be developed and we will learn to manage this virus just like we've done with so many other terrible diseases in our lifetime.


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## IrisSenior (Apr 2, 2020)

My thoughts:

Covid-19 is a virus like the common cold (spread by droplets in the air from an infected person and/or you touch an infected surface and touch your mouth/nose/eyes).
It will run its course and there will be no vaccine although maybe some drugs might help
Yes I think it could pop up again at a later date
We will pay more attention the next time when we are told that a contagious disease has been confirmed and lock down everywhere
I think WHO and top medical advisers are doing the best they can with this virus as it is new and different from other viruses (like SARS)

Getting back to when this will end enough for us to mingle in public again - when ever WHO says it is ok. Yes, I know we are being given dates by others but those 'others' just don't know.

I pray for everyone in this world that we WILL get through this.


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## Robert59 (Apr 2, 2020)

Return to active duty could last 24 months during pandemic fight Trump said.


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