Excerpt:
“My sons, who were both fully vaccinated and boosted, had the usual symptoms: first a sore throat, then some fever and aches and fatigue for several days. Within a week, they were mostly back to themselves. An unpleasant week for sure, but were it not for the pandemic, probably not quite bad enough to go see a doctor.
In fact, they got so well so (relatively) quickly that I began to wonder whether it might be more expedient from a public health perspective if we just quit trying to stem the pace and extent of the pandemic and just, well, let it rip. Once everyone got Covid and recovered, we could all be ourselves again, immune and carefree. Out with the masks, in with the face-to-face gatherings. New York could be the Big Apple once again!
After this initially exhilarating thought experiment, though, the dangers of the "let it rip" approach became evident. Perhaps having sick sons had warped my judgment. Opening the gate to more infections is a very terrible idea; even if it might improve the Covid-19 statistics transiently, it would leave a trail of individual tragedies.
First, there are the sheer case numbers: The statistics of death and severe illness would become mighty big numbers if a million people a day were to catch the infection. Emergency rooms, many of which are already packed to the brim, would be even more backed up with the Omicron sick, making it still more difficult for people with other conditions to be seen quickly.
Hospital staff, already frazzled by two years of the pandemic, would be under even greater pressure again. Plus, an illness that makes it hard to work for a week or two punches large holes in the workforce, making routine aspects of life a daily challenge.
On the medical side, millions of people in the US have weakened immune systems, whether from cancer or cancer treatments, drugs given for conditions like lupus and similar conditions, or a wide array of other diseases. Their ability to mount an effective response to any virus is compromised, as is their ability to respond to a vaccine, making an unchecked virus a clear danger.
Furthermore, since they have trouble clearing the virus, it may linger for months in their body, possibly creating a hothouse environment to promote new variants, any one of which might be the next variant of concern.
There are still more reasons to remain vigilant: We don't know the frequency of long Covid among those infected by Omicron, and we don't know the rate of more recently identified consequences of acute Covid-19 infection such as type 1 diabetes.”
http://www.cnn.com/2022/01/11/opinions/covid-let-it-rip-sepkowitz/index.html
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