The Dutch Society of Immunology published an issue on Corona and the immune system for the Dutch general public (hence it is in Dutch).
SARS-CoV-2 is a new virus for humans and COVID-19, the disease that causes it, is a new disease. Much is still unknown. How contagious is the virus in people of different ages and stages of the disease? What is the range of symptoms? Are there many people who hardly have any symptoms? How can the disease be treated? Scientific discoveries are fast and we are learning every day. Yet not everything is clear yet. What is being told today may turn out to be slightly different tomorrow when new data has become known.
The situation is closely monitored on a daily basis and, based on the most up-to-date scientific knowledge, the best possible models are made to predict the progress of the pandemic. These predictions will not always be completely accurate. This is logical. These models require different assumptions such as the contagiousness and lethality of the disease. The models also predict the effects of measures (such as staying at home and keeping a distance from each other) on the spread of the disease and the number of people who have to be admitted to a hospital. When new knowledge is acquired, it may later turn out that some of these assumptions were incorrect.
The same applies to the measures that the government takes on the basis of these models. As Prime Minister Rutte said earlier, the government must "make 100% decisions with only 50% information."
The models help enormously in decision making. Each new phase of the disease and it number of infections per country requires different measures from the population to keep the disease under control and not to overwhelm hospitals. That is why the policy is constantly updated when new information is available about the number infections in the Netherlands.
This "Corona number" from the Dutch Immunology Society describes the information about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the immune system as it was known at the beginning of April 2020.
The issue (in Dutch) can be found at the website mijnafweer.nl or can be downloaded via:
'Coronanummer' (in Dutch)