We started this plague with something like 50%-80% immunity, which we had no way to measure or predict, we just had to wait for the death data to expose when herd immunity became effective. Now we have the hard data, we know that T-cell and other forms of immunity are at play here to a large extent. Not all immunity is antibody based, and we have effective immunity both from innate genetic T-cells we're born with, and from individual prior exposure to other corona viruses that managed to be "close enough" to teach our immune system to attack. This is why there are many cases of people being asymptomatic or extremely mild.
Other major factors:
Have solid vitamin D levels (take 5000iu per day) or else your immune system is crippled.
Get as small an exposure as possible, because that way your body gets far less sick before you fight it off. This is the only good argument for mask wearing that I'm aware of, since masks do little to fully prevent the transmission of this plague, but it is long established virology that smaller exposure (called innoculum) equals less serious case. Would you prefer a mild cold to a crippling flu?
That is not how virus exposure works, and this is long established science.
Let's take 2 cases, assuming a healthy and ready immune system.
1- Wearing a mask in the grocery store, getting a bit of spray from a passing person. You breathe in (guessing for example sake) a few thousand viruses, infecting a few spots in your lungs. They get in you, start doing their thing, and within a day or two your immune system is triggered, isolating the infected spots, and killing them off, before they even start spreading significantly. You get a very mild bit of cold symptoms and then it's gone.
2- Not wearing a mask, having a loud argument at close distance with an infectious person. You breath in millions of viruses, basically saturating your lungs with virus infection. Within a day or two, your immune system is fighting a HUGE battle, and your lungs are headed towards being inflamed everywhere, which can knock you flat on your ass. Your immune system has to mount a massive response, and that can trigger other bad things.
Best outcome is never catching any given virus. But if we do, best case is a mild infectious dose, countered by a strong immune system, leaving us with mild sickness at most, and lasting immunity.
Here's what you need to know.
We started this plague with something like 50%-80% immunity, which we had no way to measure or predict, we just had to wait for the death data to expose when herd immunity became effective. Now we have the hard data, we know that T-cell and other forms of immunity are at play here to a large extent. Not all immunity is antibody based, and we have effective immunity both from innate genetic T-cells we're born with, and from individual prior exposure to other corona viruses that managed to be "close enough" to teach our immune system to attack. This is why there are many cases of people being asymptomatic or extremely mild.
Other major factors:
Have solid vitamin D levels (take 5000iu per day) or else your immune system is crippled.
Get as small an exposure as possible, because that way your body gets far less sick before you fight it off. This is the only good argument for mask wearing that I'm aware of, since masks do little to fully prevent the transmission of this plague, but it is long established virology that smaller exposure (called innoculum) equals less serious case. Would you prefer a mild cold to a crippling flu?
That is not how virus exposure works, and this is long established science.
Let's take 2 cases, assuming a healthy and ready immune system.
1- Wearing a mask in the grocery store, getting a bit of spray from a passing person. You breathe in (guessing for example sake) a few thousand viruses, infecting a few spots in your lungs. They get in you, start doing their thing, and within a day or two your immune system is triggered, isolating the infected spots, and killing them off, before they even start spreading significantly. You get a very mild bit of cold symptoms and then it's gone.
2- Not wearing a mask, having a loud argument at close distance with an infectious person. You breath in millions of viruses, basically saturating your lungs with virus infection. Within a day or two, your immune system is fighting a HUGE battle, and your lungs are headed towards being inflamed everywhere, which can knock you flat on your ass. Your immune system has to mount a massive response, and that can trigger other bad things.
Best outcome is never catching any given virus. But if we do, best case is a mild infectious dose, countered by a strong immune system, leaving us with mild sickness at most, and lasting immunity.