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YDC: My thoughts on COVID, since I realize people may not understand my take.

Posted by MDH Dec 21 '21, 07:43

No one asked, and you can ignore, but this is my perspective.

We've been "in COVID" since early 2020, although it's clear that it started earlier. Since that time, COVID has had many iterations, and there's now many mutations. At this time it has become clear COVID is never going away, ever. It's going to mutate, and every few months we're going to have a new variant. Does that mean that we should ignore it, and not be concerned? No. But it does mean that we need to move past it. Especially since we have a vaccine. There is no goal after a vaccine. Cases will never go to zero. The goal is to prevent deaths and hospitalizations. The only way that happens is if people get vaccinated.

As the virus mutates it's going to get either more deadly (Delta) or more contagious (Omicron). COVID is going to continue forever, and we're not in a position to sit inside and ignore humanity forever. Everyone is going to get exposed to it. Everyone is going to get it. It's a matter of when. It may not be this month, but it will be sometime, and you may not even know you have it. That's the point of a vaccine and booster.

Omicron is proving to be very contagious. And truth be told, since we're all going to get it, this is likely the one to be least afraid of getting. If you're vaccinated you'll be fine. You'll be more immune after, and we can move on. I don't want people to get it, but I'm being practical. You're never going to avoid COVID for the rest of your life, it's simply not possible. In two months we'll be talking about a new variant, and so on.

It's why I, and so many people now, have the same opinion on shutting things down. We're never going to reduce cases to zero, and as such they are a useless metric. We can't move forward with a March 2020 mindset. Things are very different from then. We have a vaccine and booster. That's the biggest change you can have. We need to move forward with a 2021/2022 mindset. There's nothing else we can or should wait on. Waiting until cases are zero will never happen, low cases may not happen depending on the variant. The goal is low deaths and low hospitalization. And again, vaccines help that. But the vaccine has been widely available in the US for over 6 months. If you aren't vaccinated at this time, the US isn't waiting for you any longer.

Responses:

That's the "its only a flu" argument and truth is, that is what we will revert to, as soon as its just a trickle of death we'll party like its 1999 -- nm - zeitgeist Dec 21, 11:33
1) We don't know it's never going away. I think it's more likely to mutate into something more innocuous then it is to stay around forever. - Inigo Dec 21, 08:00
Big White House vibes -- (link) - MDH Dec 21, 07:59
A couple of points to consider. - loosilu who Dec 21, 07:55
The last sentence of your 2nd paragraph is factually wrong. Vaccine is one tool among many that we have (masks, SD, etc.) -- nm - con_carne Dec 21, 07:50 10
- It's not. You're still going to get it with masks and SD, it's a matter of time. Those don't increase your chances once you've got it. -- nm - MDH Dec 21, 07:53 9
  - that is also false. See: Israel. The combination of tools works. More importantly it means hospitals can handle the number of cases. -- nm - loosilu who Dec 21, 07:56
  - If this disease were all about me me me, then fine. But it's not, is it? If I have COVID and wear a mask, I am protecting others from getting it. -- nm - con_carne Dec 21, 07:56 3
    - That's not the point. Of course wear a mask if you have COVID. But wearing a mask doesn't help you live once you have COVID and aren't vaxxed. -- nm - MDH Dec 21, 08:00 2
      - YOu can be a carrier without knowing, so yes, it matters if you ear it. -- nm - loosilu who Dec 21, 08:19
      - The point of wearing a mask once you have a disease is to protect others, not me. That's literally what I just said -- nm - con_carne Dec 21, 08:04
  - They do (somewhat) help you avoid getting it, but we're past that. Look at any Omicron data. -- nm - MDH Dec 21, 07:53 3
    - We are definitely not past that. You're giving up and that attitude will kill people. -- nm - loosilu who Dec 21, 07:56 2
      - I mean we're past people not getting it at some point. We all are. Any thoughts otherwise are in a different unvierse. -- nm - MDH Dec 21, 08:01 1
        
        And that's why it's so important to control the rate of infection so as not to overwhlem the system. -- nm - loosilu who Dec 21, 08:20
add in more punishment for non-vaxxed and I'm with you. The trouble will come cause the non-vaxxed will swamp the hospital system and fuck over people - Beaker Dec 21, 07:48 4
- Increase their insurance premiums. REfuse to cover COVID treatment. -- nm - loosilu who Dec 21, 07:57 2
  - I was thinking more public flogging, but I'll consider this punishment as well -- nm - Beaker Dec 21, 07:58 1
    - How long before our premiums go up to cover all these long hospitalizations? Why the eff should I have to pay? -- nm - loosilu who Dec 21, 07:59
- THAT's the problem. -- nm - Andie Dec 21, 07:54

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YDC: My thoughts on COVID, since I realize people may not understand my take.

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