On 31/07/2020 07:44, Zenaan Harkness wrote:
Had a friend annoyed at masks the other day, complaining heavily "muh
human right to shop at the supermarket without wearing a mask!"
Interlocutor: So you'd prefer herd immunity?
Complainer: Of course! Weren't you even listening?!
I: Well, do you know what herd immunity means? What is it?
C: Ah, may be not? What is herd immunity?
I: If you survive, you survive; those who die, are left to die, the
rest of the herd is immune…
C: <silence>
I: So you've heard a little about the Spanish flu and the Black Death, right?
C: Yeah..
I: Well, we're the survivors - we are that part of the herd that did not die.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, that has nothing to do with herd
immunity - it's actually evolution.
(herd immunity is when sufficient members of a herd are immune that
there aren't enough non-immune members to spread a disease - the
non-immune members could still get the disease, but there isn't anyone
around who's infected to give it to them)
Peter Fairbrother
