Containing it or clearing it or living with it? (16/03/20 18:57:50)
I keep away from sophisticated sources and take the easy way through Wikipedia - the pages of Common Cold and on Coronavirus. For the common cold there are a few coronaviruses already. It seems that there is no long-lasting immunity after the infection has been cleared - so it is possible to have another identical infection later. This is bad news for vaccine developers. I have personal experience with the other extreme: I had measles around 1960 (the vaccine did't exist then), and it is textbook knowledge that this gives lifelong immunity.
If COVID-19 or whatever it is called these days gives poor immunity, we might as well just prepare for the infection to become endemic - like the common cold. But perhaps those clever people can come up with something, and have a vaccine against the common cold (some 200 viruses) as a fortunate spinoff?
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