Agreed.
He really wants to know if there are any Unicorns out there... ;-)
(For those not following this discussion, the Unicorn is someone who caught the virus, was fully recovered from it, and will therefore show antibodies as evidence. I am calling them “Unicorns” because they do not exist in any significant numbers—the virus has not been around long enough...If they did exist in large numbers they would be proof the virus is a nothingburger, since millions of people would have already recovered without incident, indicating herd immunity was almost at hand.)
While it’s reasonable to assume there would be notable sever case if the virus is ‘out there’.
You know what they say about assuming.
After all, we know it’s very transmittable (latest estimate I’ve seen: R0 =2.2).
it’s reasonable to look for those immunized.
It doesn’t cost much or take away from other efforts.
“If they did exist in large numbers they would be proof the virus is a nothingburger, since millions of people would have already recovered without incident, indicating herd immunity was almost at hand.”
It’s literally the very best thing that could happen to us. Better than a guaranteed vaccine available and freely distributable in 6 months even.
I don’t think it’s the case, but I’m comforted by the fact that at least some academics are saying they think it might be true.
Maybe they are just getting paid to say it by some industry people, who knows.
The infection and hospitalization numbers at present do not indicate that herd immunity has kicked in yet.