 We are continuing to learn more about COVID-19 and as we learn more we get a better sense of how long this is going to last And maybe you know, it's a really vague timeline, but we kind of learn How long approximately we'll be dealing with this and given how Americans just aren't taking this seriously It seemed previously as if this isn't going to go away. Just naturally We're going to need a vaccine to accelerate the end of this pandemic although We're learning that a vaccine might not actually be our saving grace after all unfortunately because infectious disease experts are suggesting that a vaccine Even if it becomes widely available and is affordable Might not actually offer full immunity. Now, of course, it's too early to know that for sure But this is a possibility that I think a lot of us Hadn't entertained even though we knew that this could very well be the case Vaccine might not be our saving grace However, another thing that we were kind of banking on was if a vaccine alone Wouldn't stop the spread of the pandemic then maybe, you know, some type of herd immunity if we see a combination of A vaccine and herd immunity if enough people get it and become immune then that would essentially halt the spread of COVID-19 Although that's something that also doesn't seem likely as well because the immunity enjoyed by recovered patients may not actually last forever In fact, COVID-19 reinfections are now popping up Which basically diminishes any hope that we had of herd immunity and as Vox's declay accurately explains Wait, I can catch COVID twice. My 50 year old patient asked in disbelief It was the beginning of July and he had just tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 the virus that causes COVID-19 For a second time three months after a previous infection while there's still much We don't understand about immunity to this new illness a small but growing number of cases like his suggests the answer Is yes COVID-19 may also be much worse the second time around during his first infection My patient experienced the mild cough and sore throat His second infection in contrast was marked by a high fever shortness of breath and hypoxia Resulting in multiple trips to the hospital recent reports and conversations with physician colleagues suggest My patient is not alone two patients in new jersey For instance appear to have contracted COVID-19 a second time Almost two months after fully recovering from their first infection Daniel Griffin a physician and researcher at Columbia University in New York Recently described a case of presumed reinfection on the this week in virology podcast It is possible But unlikely that my patient had a single infection that lasted three months Some COVID-19 patients now dubbed long haulers do appear to suffer persistent infections and symptoms My patient however cleared his infection He had two negative PCR tests after his first infection and felt healthy for nearly six weeks Also troubling is that my patient's case and others like his made him the hope for natural herd immunity Herd immunity depends on the theory that our immune systems once exposed to a pathogen Will collectively protect us as a community from reinfection and further spread There are several pathways out of this pandemic including safe effective and available therapeutics and vaccines as well as herd immunity Or some combination thereof experts generally consider natural herd immunity a worst-case scenario backup plan It requires mass infection and in the case of COVID-19 Massive loss of life because of the disease's fatality rate before protection takes hold Herd immunity was promoted by experts in sweden and early on in the pandemic in the uk with devastating results Now there is a caveat to this story with this particular patient that this doctor writes about They did not receive an antibody test. So maybe it's the case that this person You know just didn't create a strong enough antibody response thus allowing for the relapse or the reinfection I should say But this is really really just it's it's like a gut punch to hear this right because everything that we looked at to be You know our hope It seems like it's falling apart right if a vaccine wasn't going to do it then I guess maybe herd immunity but that's not going to do it so The implication is that we have to be really realistic About what we're dealing with and how long it's going to last especially considering That americans aren't going to take this seriously and if americans don't take it seriously Then the rest of the world will also suffer because of our irresponsibility um, but we're going to deal with this for quite some time and the uh, World health organization just issued a really stark warning about just that as andrea germanos of common dreams reports The head of the world health organization warned monday that a return to the old normal was not in the foreseeable future And urged global leaders to act cooperatively to control the coronavirus pandemic Let me be blunt too many countries are headed in the wrong direction Who director general dr. Tejros adhanom? Gabe braceyus I probably butcher that name said in a media briefing tejros remarks came as the total number of total coronavirus cases continued taking upward nearing 13 million globally more than 570,000 covet 19 deaths have been recorded worldwide Over 134,000 of which were in the united states the united states which has the highest number of cases in the world Recorded over 3.2 million cases as of monday an increase of over 60,000 sunday infections continued to rise in dozens of us states including florida which on sunday Broke the national record for the largest single day increase in coronavirus cases with over 15,000 The who chief didn't single out the us in his comments But noted the epicenter of the virus remains in the americas where more than 50 of the world's cases have been recorded The trajectory of the pandemic if governments fail to roll out a comprehensive strategy Focused on suppressing transmission and saving lives and individuals don't take public health measures like wearing masks is clear So tejros if the basics aren't followed there is only one way this pandemic is going to go tejros said It's going to get worse and worse and worse. I want to be straight with you He continued there will be no return to the old normal for the foreseeable future But he stressed it is never too late to take decisive action and in response to his warning there We're not going to take decisive action. Donald trump's administration has washed their hands of this issue In fact trump is formally withdrawing us from the world health organization on top of that He's tweeting conspiracy theories about how the media the cdc experts are lying about covet 19 All to hurt him and the economy because if you hurt the economy by you know advocating for prolonged shutdowns Then you then hurt donald trump in turn Except this isn't about donald trump. This is happening in the world And we've just decided we're not going to take it serious. So it's going to be here For a really long time and it's not just going to be here for a long time It's going to get worse and worse and worse. This is this is catastrophic. I don't know what else to say I mean right when we flatten the curve and it kind of looks like we're taking this seriously We see cases skyrocket and as they're skyrocketing we're taking it less seriously now than we were back in march I mean, this is just it's tiring. It's really tiring And about a month or so ago I did a segment where I talked about how, you know, um experts are saying social distancing may be necessary all the way until 2022 except That was kind of like a worst case scenario Now it's not looking like that's going to be a worst case scenario It seems like it's going to be the likely case scenario or that the worst case scenario will be what actually comes to fruition Because we're just not taking it seriously and look it's not just the united states Who's handling it like absolute idiots? It's other countries as well But nobody is doing as poorly as the united states where the government has just completely ignored it And it's not even trying to help save, you know, the economy not even Providing any relief To americans with the exception of a one-time $1,200 payment. I just I don't know what to say. This is going to destabilize the world It's going to hurt the economy long term and cause a great depression and people are going to die because of this And it's just it's deeply depressing By the time We hit november We're gonna be at around 200 000 deaths due to covet 19 in the united states alone according to some experts based on projections And that is so heartbreaking to consider 200 000 people in america alone died But not to mention all the people around the world hundreds of thousands of people who are dying Because humanity just can't get its act together. It can't get its act together To stop a pandemic. It doesn't seem to want to get its act together to stop climate catastrophe I mean, it just seems like our species hasn't advanced enough To stop these types of wicked problems We're just pretending like they're not a thing and whatever consequences come to fruition as a result of these catastrophes We're just letting it happen. So it's sad, but this is the harsh reality. We can't Promise ourselves that it's going to get better once a vaccine becomes available because that's wishful thinking Maybe it will happen But I mean the doctrine that a physician from the vox article said that it's really not actually a good thing to promote this idea that you know herd immunity or a vaccine is going to Stop this pandemic because then that won't encourage people to engage in risky activity They may think well, you know, if they're immune from COVID-19 after they get it Maybe they should just go contract it and get it over with and then they could resume life as normal Or you know, just not worry about it because the vaccine is coming out. No, that's wishful thinking We have to be proactive and the fact that we're not actually aggressively Taking on this pandemic It shows that this is going to be the new normal for quite some time for the world And that's really deeply depressing. But that's the fact of reality. I can't sugarcoat it