ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES for containing Coronavirus have emerged. The British considered traditional herd-immunity. I went through it as a child when our families put us together when one of us got chickenpox and measles. Most of us got sick at the same time – congrats kids, you’re immune! Unfortunately, Coronavirus is too dangerous to large segments of society and the government backed off.
California Governor Newsom’s strategy calls on the most susceptible to isolate themselves, i.e. people over 65 and those with conditions like diabetes and heart disease. This approach relies on compliance by those with the strongest incentives to change their behavior. It also tacitly acknowledges that young adults socialize at all costs and notoriously ignore calls to put safety first.
Newsom’s strategy is wise in recognizing human nature. It won’t serve every family, including those with young, infirmed, and old living together. It’ll be interesting to see how healthy 65+ adults respond and the effects on the virus’ spread and death toll. The governor’s strategy is a hypothesis Californians are about to test.
Image reference
Image courtesy of Flickr and Gage Skidmore under Creative Common License cc-by-sa-2.0