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When Will Coronavirus Social Distancing Be Over?

theatlantic.com

1–10 of 80 posts

Re: When Will Coronavirus Social Distancing Be Over?

#5
post #2

No one really needs to be near other people. I think just keep it going. A lot of industries really aren’t essential to life. Maybe we should question why we need them. Theme parks, sports, gyms.

Physiologically, no, we don't. Psychologically? I think there will be issues. For your sports example, there is definitely a primal need being fulfilled, otherwise athletic competitions would not have existed in ancient times. It's true that many industries aren't essential to life. That doesn't mean they're not essential to wellbeing.

Re: When Will Coronavirus Social Distancing Be Over?

#6
post #2

No one really needs to be near other people. I think just keep it going. A lot of industries really aren’t essential to life. Maybe we should question why we need them. Theme parks, sports, gyms.

Seriously? Your argument is that we should get rid of things that aren’t essential to life? And you include gyms in that list? I wonder how you view human well-being, leisure activities, hobbies, and activities that may have secondary benefits (e.g. Formula 1’s impact on the automotive industry).

Re: When Will Coronavirus Social Distancing Be Over?

#7
The crux of the article: "The answer is simple, if not exactly satisfying: when enough of the population—possibly 60 or 80 percent of people—is resistant to COVID-19"

But then in the next paragraph nonchalantly says "though we don’t yet know if recovering from the disease confers any immunity at all"

I'm not sure sure how articles like these get published.

Re: When Will Coronavirus Social Distancing Be Over?

#8

The crux of the article: "The answer is simple, if not exactly satisfying: when enough of the population—possibly 60 or 80 percent of people—is resistant to COVID-19" But then in the next paragraph nonchalantly says "though we don’t yet know if recovering from the disease confers any immunity at all" I'm not sure sure how articles like these get published.

It's all about the clicks. Nobody proof-reads anything anymore.

Re: When Will Coronavirus Social Distancing Be Over?

#9
If I understand it right, in a “perfect universe” if every person was able to stay home for 14 days and also perfectly avoided infecting anyone then the virus would effectively have died off. The 14 day’s might not be the exact time required but it illustrates a concept. We of course can’t uphold that perfect universe. So we’re stuck using that technique to slow it’s roll enough that it won’t overwhelm and kill like 3% of 7 billion people in addition to the usual attrition rate.

Re: When Will Coronavirus Social Distancing Be Over?

#10
post #2

No one really needs to be near other people. I think just keep it going. A lot of industries really aren’t essential to life. Maybe we should question why we need them. Theme parks, sports, gyms.

> No one really needs to be near other people.

This isn't true now or at any point when "humans" were an identifiable concept. We're not solitary animals. If you made everyone live alone, we might well go extinct.

People do vary in how much contact they need with other people. Some people will quickly become mentally ill if they're not getting enough social contact. I'm quite far over at the other end of the spectrum... but after living in China with no social group for several months, a friendly cashier greeting me in English with "Welcome to Lotus" was enough to get a very positive reaction from me.

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