Isn't it time to tune down on COVID-19 projects?

[glad1us]

I see that despite most projects are still related to COVID-19 and I want my PC to work on other diseases since how I see it, we defeated it and it is only a question of time before we can return to normal life.
There are still other diseases and research that could be done and I don't want to wear down my hardware on what I see as a dead horse.

Sure if there are many computers and not enough projects then fine, but if we can tune down COVID and tune up other stuff that we still didn't bit then why not.

[psaam0001]

Without knowing what is on the researcher's minds, I'd say we need to continue work on COVID-19--but as work on that dries up, work on other projects.

We need to prepare for any mutations of COVID that may pop-up as a modified strain, that will in time be resistant to the currently offered treatments/vaccines. The best way to do this, is set your client to run "High Priority" projects (In FAHControl Configure menu--Advanced Tab).

Paul

[Joe_H]

Or if you want to do something other than COVID-19, select one of the other preferences besides Any, High-priority, or COVID-19. If there are projects running, you will get WUs from that preference first, the COVID-19 if no WUs are available at the time of the request.

And COVID-19 is far from "defeated".

[bruce]

And COVID-19 is far from "defeated".

It will probably take many months before the nation achieves herd immunity, even if there's an incentive perceived by those who consider the virus a hoax and/or chilies vaccinations. In the meantime we need to keep wearing masks, etc. Then, too, we still have no idea how long the immunity will last or how the virus will evolve to bypass the immunity.

The sprints expect to find viral weaknesses that can be exploited. (as well as attacking the wild profit potential of the existing vaccines. Having the government pay for it isn't an ideal solution, especially for those who dislike tax increases.

[psaam0001]

I too am feeling worn from some of this "new normal", to the point where I wish we could live our lives as normally as possible--while being mindful to take precautions.

At some point, life must resume.

Just my thoughts.

Paul

[glad1us]

Without knowing what is on the researcher's minds, I'd say we need to continue work on COVID-19--but as work on that dries up, work on other projects.

We need to prepare for any mutations of COVID that may pop-up as a modified strain, that will in time be resistant to the currently offered treatments/vaccines. The best way to do this, is set your client to run "High Priority" projects (In FAHControl Configure menu--Advanced Tab).

Paul

Fair point

Or if you want to do something other than COVID-19, select one of the other preferences besides Any, High-priority, or COVID-19. If there are projects running, you will get WUs from that preference first, the COVID-19 if no WUs are available at the time of the request.

And COVID-19 is far from "defeated".

You still going to get mostly COVID related work units from my experience.

I too am feeling worn from some of this "new normal", to the point where I wish we could live our lives as normally as possible--while being mindful to take precautions.

At some point, life must resume.

Just my thoughts.

Paul

This not what I am talking about.

[aetch]

I would say to just roll with it.
Doing trials and getting something out there that works is barely the end of the beginning.
There is still a lot of work needed to study the effects of the vaccines on the populace.
There will still be a lot of work to improve its effectiveness, manufacturing techniques, methods of administration and longevity.
There may be whole groups of people the vaccines have no effect on.

Just now the vaccines seem to be showing ~95% effective.
To me that means it doesn't work on roughly 390 Million people out of 7.8 Billion, or the combined population of USA (~331M) and Italy (~60M).
Wouldn't you want to keep looking for something more effective?

[glad1us]

I would say to just roll with it.
Doing trials and getting something out there that works is barely the end of the beginning.
There is still a lot of work needed to study the effects of the vaccines on the populace.
There will still be a lot of work to improve its effectiveness, manufacturing techniques, methods of administration and longevity.
There may be whole groups of people the vaccines have no effect on.

Just now the vaccines seem to be showing ~95% effective.
To me that means it doesn't work on roughly 390 Million people out of 7.8 Billion, or the combined population of USA (~331M) and Italy (~60M).
Wouldn't you want to keep looking for something more effective?

It was said (by the CEO of Moderna I think) that 90% effectiveness is already very good. A normal flu shot is around 40%-50% effective (consider that they mix and match a lot of flu shots together to match what is predicted for a given winter season). Even if we could better the current result alone can easily bring down the R factor well below 1.0 which is good enough. We will never get a 100% effectiveness.

[bruce]

I too am feeling worn from some of this "new normal", to the point where I wish we could live our lives as normally as possible--while being mindful to take precautions.

At some point, life must resume.

Scientific research will continue. That has very little to do with the 'new normal' or 'resuming life' Those are public health issues (or politic), not scientific research. both are important but for different reasons.

Spreading disease will continue until we reach "herd immunity" where a large percentage of the general public are immune, either because of receiving a successful vaccination or because of other reasons. Scientific research will continue wherever there are interesting unanswered questions.

[kiore]

I think victory is being declared rather early, it is reassuring that there are multiple vaccine candidates on the horizon but we still lack effective treatments and now very likely have infective reservoirs around the globe. We have had effective vaccines available for other diseases but so far have only eliminated one (smallpox) and have been teetering on another for the last decade or so (Polio Myelitis) Mass vaccination is difficult, not just the logistics but it is sure to run into opposition from those fearing the vaccine (reasonably or not) more than the disease and the lower the incidence of the disease the slower the vaccine acceptance, so once the most acute period over people will no longer so willing to take it preventatively which tends to result in local outbreaks reoccurring. This is the thirds SARS like virus to emerge in the last 20 years: SARS, MERS and now SARS-CoV-2 so work on how to counter this family of viruses is not wasted time.

[Burlingtonian]

I never expected that I would someday be quoting former United States Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfield, but when it comes to our understanding of the underlying science behind Covid-19, I suspect that there are, in his words, “known knowns, things we know that we know; and there are known unknowns, things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns, things we do not know we don't know.”

Despite the imminent roll-out of vaccines, I will leave my FAH set to Any and let the programmers, researchers and scientists decide how to best utilize my resources. My computer, unlike its owner, is showing no signs of virus fatigue.

[JimF]

For COVID-19, there are many treatments in hand just waiting to be tested. I am more concerned that with hundreds of millions of people (not to mention animals) infected around the world, the virus will eventually figure out how to mutate. It could be into a more dangerous form. We better get the defenses ready now, so that we don't have to scramble around so much when it hits.

[psaam0001]

One person alone can't solve a problem. As neither of us as individuals has the time, knowledge, or resources to do it alone--we must do it together.

My final thoughts for now. I'll just be happy to help compute part of the solution to COVID-19.

Paul

[foldy]

If virus mutates then it will be after many people have got the vaccine. Because then current corona virus cannot spread anymore easily and only the mutated corona viruses survive. Then we adapt the vaccine to mutated corona virus and next season this game repeats. The mutated corona virus maybe is more or less deadly. But I guess it will then be on the same level as influenza.

[glad1us]

I never expected that I would someday be quoting former United States Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfield, but when it comes to our understanding of the underlying science behind Covid-19, I suspect that there are, in his words, “known knowns, things we know that we know; and there are known unknowns, things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns, things we do not know we don't know.”

Despite the imminent roll-out of vaccines, I will leave my FAH set to Any and let the programmers, researchers and scientists decide how to best utilize my resources. My computer, unlike its owner, is showing no signs of virus fatigue.

Risk management. You only have few resources so manage them in a smart way.

For COVID-19, there are many treatments in hand just waiting to be tested. I am more concerned that with hundreds of millions of people (not to mention animals) infected around the world, the virus will eventually figure out how to mutate. It could be into a more dangerous form. We better get the defenses ready now, so that we don't have to scramble around so much when it hits.

But how do you know how it will mutate?