Ian C MacLeod -- Whichever scenario plays out it will continue to be hugely disruptive and expensive, and will probably be with us for quite a while
The COVID-19 crisis will not be over soon (a few months to several years!), and it will be prohibitively expensive. No politician has all the answers and none can realistically provide a quick fix. Those are realities, and we must find ways to adapt to them. As to duration of the COVID-19 crisis, there seems to be 4 alternative timelines and tracks: 1. MAYBE A FEW MONTHS ► NEW TREATMENT DRUGS are developed to treat actual infections. There seem to be a number of them close to, or actually in, human testing. Will still be issues of cost and access; 2. MAYBE A FEW MONTHS ► JUST “ RUNS its COURSE ” . With containment measures, cases seem to be “plateauing” in China (if one can believe the data). As with some previous pandemics, maybe in time (hopefully no more than 4 or 5 months) it just fizzles out (with the help of containment and treatment measures). 3. MAYBE 18 MONTHS ► a NEW VACCINE is brought to market. There are a number of options in th...