Seriously, though, great article. A couple of things stood out to me:
Vaccine efforts are very much needed, but I think we should be clear that they won’t necessarily succeed. There’s a lot of effort being put into them, but not every disease has a vaccine.
Specifically, RNA viruses with highly mutable sections that present themselves to the immune system with variable markers are exquisitely difficult to pin down based on those markers. It's like going after a suspect based on the mask he's wearing when he changes it out constantly. It's the reason we don't have HIV vaccines yet.
There’s likely to be a period of widespread transmission in the U.S., and I hope we will avert the kind of chaos that some other places are seeing. That’s likely if we continue to be prepared, but I think it’s going to be a new virus that we have to deal with. That won’t be because the United States government has failed to contain it, it will mean that this is an uncontainable virus. If we’re dealing with it, it’s because everybody’s going to be dealing with it. I think that’s a likely scenario.
Or because the virus has mutated into a more manageable form over time. This is apparently what happened to the original Spanish Flu virus, but a less manageable form is quite possible. As the Professor points out, the "quarantine" efforts in China aren't really quarantine, they're cordon sanitaire, inside of which contagion from infected to uninfected is very difficult to address. It's like those poor souls trapped on the cruise ship with infected passengers - they're not going anywhere and they will be exposed. Medical personnel are in that position as well, and prayers up for the lot of them because they'll need them.
Read articles?!? This is BLASPHEMY, sir, and I assure you the highest authorities will be notified.
The thinking was that it would moderate as time passed but its tough to tell if that is happening or the opposite is true. And it could mutate either way at any given time.
Its very likely that the virus will not be contained. Even the rather draconian measures that China is using is only partially successful and some of the tactics such as the use of foggers is unsettling
We will find out soon enough.
A likely scenario could be a situation reminiscent of the Spanish Flu epidemic a century ago where there is an initial spread of the disease , followed by a lull, and then a more wide spread transmission of a more virulent strain
Doubtful this one is going away any time soon
Most viruses mutate weaker not stronger.