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There is no ‘scientific divide’ over herd immunity (wired.co.uk)
2 points by BerislavLopac on Oct 8, 2020 | hide | past | favorite | 1 comment



I find this difficult to believe. The figure of 60% needing infection to reach the so called threshold is debated within the scientific community, due to the fact that pre-existing immunity (or factors which downplay severity) may have been underestimated. See this editorial by the British Medical Journal which argues this point, including analogous lessons from the swine flu pandemic[1].

Also these statements:

> There is nothing about test and trace or mask-wearing – two interventions that we know are effective at stopping the spread of Covid-19 and don’t require any curtailing of our individual behaviour.

"We know"? About mask wearing, the literature (yes, the scientific literature) is largely inconsistent and unclear[2][3]. Which does not mean masks do not work, but the answer is not "we know", it is "we don't know yet".

[1] https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3563

[2] https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/masking-lack-of-evidence-with-...

[3] https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/covid-19-evidence-is-lacking-f...




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