On this episode of Social Distance, Dr. James Hamblin takes a stab at answering some of the questions listeners have been sending to the show—including the practical (Should I get a haircut?) and the existential (When will this end?).
If you have a question for James—big or small—you can email socialdistance@theatlantic.com or leave the show a voicemail at 202-642-6487.
Listen to the episode here:
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Some questions that James answers:
Should I get a haircut?
If you’re in a place where the barbers are still open, you know, that’s someone kind of hovering around your head and touching very near your face for a prolonged period, just for aesthetic reasons. And that’s a luxury we’ll have to do without. Everyone’s gonna be super shaggy here after this.
How long will it take to make an antibody test [which would test for immunity to the novel coronavirus]?
A matter of months, I’m told … you know, a lot will be riding on a test like this. So it’s kind of similar to the vaccine in that you don’t just—the first person who’s discovered it doesn’t mean, “Oh, now we have one.” There’s an approval process to make sure, yeah, this really does work. And also we need to know, indeed, that if you have these antibodies, you really can’t get sick again.