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Young and unafraid of the pandemic? Good for you. Now stop killing people

newsweek.com

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Re: Young and unafraid of the pandemic? Good for you. Now stop killing people

#21

Post by stetrain »

aazaa wrote: post #9

It's easy to understand how Europeans look at Americans is if they're brain-dead. However, the article does nothing to support the thesis that young people in particular are killing other people. It may be true. If so, including evidence to that effect would make a better article.

"young people in particular are killing other people"

I don't think that's the point. The point is that people are looking at the mortality curve of this illness, and it looks like it most severely affects the elderly. I've heard this point repeated all over the place as a "don't panic" qualifier, it's not so bad since you are not likely to be severely effected unless you are elderly.

But if you aren't in that severely effected part of the age curve, your actions still can significantly affect the spread and effect of this illness on others and the strained medical system as a whole.

It's not "young people are to blame" but "Just because you're young doesn't mean you shouldn't care about this"

Re: Young and unafraid of the pandemic? Good for you. Now stop killing people

#22

Post by chadlavi »

keeganjw wrote: post #15

They make a good point in this article, I just wish Newsweek and other media outlets would get this pissed off about climate change. "Old and unafraid of the climate crisis? Good for you. Now stop killing future generations." If we're mobilizing to stop a pandemic, why the hell aren't we mobilizing to stop climate change? I know this is going to get downvoted into oblivion, I just wanted to say it.

Newsweek's main audience is older folks. I think they wouldn't necessarily like to bite the hand that feeds them.

But I agree, and I hope you don't get downvoted to oblivion.

Re: Young and unafraid of the pandemic? Good for you. Now stop killing people

#24

Post by LaGrange »

eranima wrote: post #4

Blaming young people seems stupid considering that everybody can spread the virus. This ageist nonsense isn't going to help stop the virus.

This is not blaming young people, though admittedly it's keeping its context implicit, which isn't helpful. This is a reaction to _way_ too many articles and posts that went "don't worry, coronavirus ain't so bad, only people who already aren't healthy are at any real risk," which a) not true, and b) is kinda scary in how it dismisses the less-than-healthy-people.

Re: Young and unafraid of the pandemic? Good for you. Now stop killing people

#25

Post by acqq »

aazaa wrote: post #9

It's easy to understand how Europeans look at Americans is if they're brain-dead. However, the article does nothing to support the thesis that young people in particular are killing other people. It may be true. If so, including evidence to that effect would make a better article.

> the article does nothing to support the thesis that young people in particular are killing other people.

It is very simple: from the pool of "all people" in any big enough area (e.g. a small city) those who will catch the virus, be able to spread it to others and will not develop significant symptoms, most of them will be very young. The older one is, more chance is that he will have strong symptoms (like not being able to breathe).

So any young person which doesn't "feel" being ill who continues to live "normally" -- meaning contacting other people like always, as in "going out" at the evening or whatever -- is a strong transmitter of the same virus that is actively killing older people.

Which all doesn't mean that older people who also behave like "nothing is happening" aren't also spreading the virus... and also, effectively, killing people.

The biggest point is: please don't behave like "it's nothing."

Re: Young and unafraid of the pandemic? Good for you. Now stop killing people

#26

Post by gre »

nostoc wrote: post #20
eranima wrote: post #4

Blaming young people seems stupid considering that everybody can spread the virus. This ageist nonsense isn't going to help stop the virus.

This is not ageist nonsense. This is aimed directly at the rampant discourse of " only the elderly dies, why should I bother" ?

It's an ageist and offensive narrative to say that young people are saying that phrase and acting it out like they don't care about killing their elders.

Re: Young and unafraid of the pandemic? Good for you. Now stop killing people

#27

Post by cmrdporcupine »

keeganjw wrote: post #15

They make a good point in this article, I just wish Newsweek and other media outlets would get this pissed off about climate change. "Old and unafraid of the climate crisis? Good for you. Now stop killing future generations." If we're mobilizing to stop a pandemic, why the hell aren't we mobilizing to stop climate change? I know this is going to get downvoted into oblivion, I just wanted to say it.

I was making a related comment to my coworkers earlier this week: if the stock market is this freaked about covid19, just wait til investors realize climate change is real and it will be hard to make money while NYC is flooded and nobody wants to buy oil anymore.

Re: Young and unafraid of the pandemic? Good for you. Now stop killing people

#28

Post by themagician »

aazaa wrote: post #9

It's easy to understand how Europeans look at Americans is if they're brain-dead. However, the article does nothing to support the thesis that young people in particular are killing other people. It may be true. If so, including evidence to that effect would make a better article.

Young people aren't afraid because it poses no unusual risk to healthy people under 65.

Airfare and hotels are at all time lows. It's a great time to travel if you aren't at risk and don't care about others. You can roundtrip to Hawaii for around $200 from some places.

Re: Young and unafraid of the pandemic? Good for you. Now stop killing people

#29

Post by earthwrldshaman »

28 yr old here, I work in the valley, havent been to work since last monday. And starting this monday, have only gone out one time, for a jog at the local track, where social distancing I guess more or less upholds itself amidst maybe 10 - 15 people max, spread out while walking or running the track.
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