Source
r/China_Flu•
subatomic5

Is it better to get corona virus now or later? Things that make you go hmmmm.

Question

My friend and I were having a debate. I'm theorizing that it may actually be better to get the virus now (we're in Canada) than later because the hospitals currently have capacity for severe cases and then, if you survive, which is more likely with hospital care, you'd be more or less immune.

He argues it would be better to try and avoid getting it in the first place and that it might die down and be avoided all together. But, my counter argument is that unless you live in a rural areas and fully self sufficient for a year or more, you'd eventually have to interact with the community and risk getting infected anyhow. Considering how quickly and easily it spreads, perhaps it's inevitable and everyone is going to be infected because everyone will eventually return to work. As such, it's just a matter of when and not if.

My take is that even if China, for example, beats it now with quarantines, as soon as the quarantines are lifted, all it will take is one person in a city for it to go pandemic again.

What are you're views?

Posted Mar 5, 2020, 12:12 AM UTC

1533
triklyn•

one, small, tiny, insignificant detail...

reinfection may be a thing.

46
evvvad•

That and the possibility (not a fact) of chronic health effects, ala SARS.

23
PinkPropaganda•

I’m afraid the chronic health effects are factual to SARS

11
evvvad•

Yes, but not established for COVID-19, if I wasn't clear.

7
IT_Stanks•

Fact: many of the coronaviruses that cause the common cold can reinfect the same person after their body clears it the first time.

4
lil-dlope•

facts it’s like you really gotta just hide from this thing lmao sucks but where are we gonna run to? Greenland?

3
triklyn•

nah, just gotta weather the storm for like... a fucking year, shelter in place... until someone makes a fucking killing with a vaccine that works

1
subatomic5OP•

I've heard that might be a possibility, but have not read/heard anything to confirm that yet from a credible source.

1
Spaznick•

Well you are arguing to be the test subject on that front if you get it earlier

7
oxyloug•

I thought about the same thing as you but took reinfection in the equation. I believe you'll be immune for a few weeks at best, and subject to reinfection after that, then, more people around you are infected and your risk of being infected again is higher than initially. I decided it was a bad idea.

2
[deleted]•

[deleted]

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30
dankhorse25•

If summer doesn't stop it everyone but the most dedicated prepers will get it.

3
hoomabloom•

Don't bet on a working vaccine being ready anytime soon. This is why:

https://www.wiwo.de/technologie/forschung/virologen-schwerwiegendes-problem-bei-entwicklung-von-corona-impfstoff/25586012.html (open in Chrome and translate)

3
Robertos1987•

We dont even know it you ever get over it. How do we know it isn't like HIV where you have it forever? How do we know that reinfection isn't far deadlier? Do we know the 6 month or 12 month mortality of this thing if it stays with you? You'd be crazy to actually decide to want to catch it at any point imo.

16
TheChaosGrinder•

Never would be ideal.

11
Witty-Perspective•

Your friend is right because you assume we have proper treatment for it now. We are giving patients broad spectrum anti virals that are repurposed and have no proven affect on the virus while the underlying severity continues to depend on cytokine storms.

9
sickboy132002•

hmmm

7
AOLinstalldisk•

hmmm

6
FloataciousHippo•

hmmmm

7
Volvith•

hmmmmm

6
wadenelsonredditorHelpful Contributor•

Hmmmmmmmm

6
ruen97•

🤔

4
erkme73•

Plan to avoid the virus, but be prepare for the eventuality to survive the infection. Wife is an ER MD, and she is quite concerned with this very same dilemma. Fortunately, we do live in a very, VERY rural area. Our closest neighbor is more than a mile away (our closest walmart is a 2 hr RT drive), and the Cumberland gap separates us from any real numbers of people.

That said, consider than in a few months - after the "peak" infection period has passed - what hospitals may look like. Many may not survive this. In fact, many smaller critical access hospitals are closing due to insolvency. The last remaining hospital in our county has permanently closed its doors late last year. The number of smaller hospitals that are teetering on bankruptcy are huge - and it is probably that the CV19 surge will remove those from the landscape.

My wife worked at one of them that is still open, but barely. She has to supply her own PPE for daily procedures. Twice, her paycheck has bounced.

Waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel following the surge may be a miscalculation - unless federal funding somehow shores up the instability.

7
greenerdoc•

You should talk to the guy who started a thread yesterday proposing to infect all medical personnel so that when the shit hits the fan, medical personnel will be available to take care of everyone else instead of needing to be quarantined.

As a medical doctor, I told him to go fuck himself and he called me a bad doctor and that I should quit medicine because I told him to fuck off.

As a doctor, if I get it, I'll deal with it. But there is no way I would infect myself, put all of my family at risk, just for his convenience. Fuck that noise.

Edit: Thread for those curious: https://www.reddit.com/r/China_Flu/comments/fd0ijq/should_we_be_preinfecting_some_medical_workers/

7
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[removed]

1
nursey74•

That reinfection part changes everything

5
wadenelsonredditorHelpful Contributor•

https://www.reddit.com/r/China_Flu/comments/f5vj7c/would_you_rather_get_the_coronavirus_now_or_later/

The threat of re-infection makes this argument moot. Avoid it as long as you can.

3
dregan•

Now that there is news out of China saying that it may cause permanent damage to the lungs and that we can likely expect a lot of people currently recovering to never fully recover, I think it's best to not get it.

3
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1
nopasties1•

This reckless speculation. No one knows the risks. You could ask a specialist in other coronaviruses and get a better guess than we can give you.

1