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The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

theatlantic.com

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Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#411

Post by mensetmanusman »

smt88 wrote: post #337
guscost wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, you're gonna leave us alone from now on. Also I'll decide for myself what to fear, thanks.

If you get Covid and are hospitalized, do you feel that your treatment should be paid for by others (meaning through your insurance or govt assistance)? If so, doesn't that mean your decision affects others? I hope that you would do the responsible thing and offer to pay your full medical bill in that scenario, in which case, disregard my question.

Ummm, you could use this reasoning on obesity, STDs, etc…

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#412

Post by thingification »

thingification wrote: post #389
h3cate wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unpopular opinion but as countries get majority vaccinated they have to learn to not be as scared of it.

Long COVID exists. Personally, it's always worried me more than the risk of death from COVID. I think people who haven't had a chronic condition (including doctors) tend to underestimate the impact they can have on your life. Long COVID symptoms may not be "severe" or "serious" in a medical coding dictionary, but those terms in a medical dictionary are quite distinct from their everyday meanings. The best evidence we…

Curious why the downvote?

Perhaps because "always worried me more than the risk of death"? If so: this is because the evidence always seems to have said that the risk of long COVID has been at least an order of magnitude higher than the risk of death. Also, if you have no dependents, death involves less suffering: in the unlikely event it happens, you're out of the picture already after a short period of misery. On the other hand, chronic illness can come with a lifetime of suffering.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#413

Post by jmull »

User23 wrote: post #132

What baffles me is the total failure to highlight one of the best ways to mitigate the risk of severe covid complications: don’t be obese[1]. It’s also a good life choice for those who also prefer not to die of non-covid conditions. Edit: And it increases your risk for long covid[2]. [1] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/latest-evidence-on... [2] https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20210608/obesity-increases-r...

Do you really think there are a lot of obese people around that can simply stop being obese but just haven't had a reason to yet?

Where do people come up with this stuff?

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#414

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

jdhn wrote: post #206
dragonwriter wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But wait... Abbott is fully vaccinated. That's a huge issue. No, its not. While the rates are somewhat higher with Delta, breakthrough infections were always expected. The accines reduce the probability of getting COVID with similar exposure, they don't 100% prevent it. > You can't slam him banning masks and all that. Yes, you can. Even if schools weren't full of unvaccinated people, which they are, the existence o…

> breakthrough infections were always expected That isn’t the way it was portrayed. The way that it was initially portrayed by the media is that these would be 99% effective and that after getting the vaccine you could go back to normal.

You could and lots of people have. The visibility of masks (literally in your face!) tends to distract people from this, but the vast, vast majority of Covid restrictions were revoked after vaccinations became widely available, including anything in the vein of "stay home" or "social distancing". In all of the US and I think a substantial chunk of Europe, it's considered safe as a matter of policy for vaccinated people to go wherever they'd like and do whatever they want.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#415

Post by JeremyNT »

rayiner wrote: post #372
adrr wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People aren’t scared up. Concern is around ICU usage and that elective surgery in hot areas are put on hold which include critical cancer removal surgeries. Also we have a large group of unvaccinated group which are under kids under 12. With life going back to normal, the standard diseases are back like RSV, paraflu and others. Get two at the same time and it’s a emergency room visit. Get 3 at the same time and it’s…

> It boggles my mind why there is pushback on mandating kids to wear masks in schools. It really shouldn’t if you’re an educated person who is following what scientific authorities are saying. The science here is still uncertain, but leaning towards masks for kids in schools not being worth it. See: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/08/the-science-of-maski... > At the end of May, the Centers for Disease Control an…

Notable is that the article is referring to a pre-delta study of elementary aged school children (elementary school normally caps out at around age 11 in the US). Young kids have long been known to be less prone to infection, less prone to suffering ill effects from infection, and less prone to spread the disease. Delta doesn't really change much of that, they are not the primary victims nor spreaders.

It's the older kids (who could have received the vaccine but opted out) who will have more "adult-like" patterns of transmission and should be more of a concern (not for their own health, really, but they might infect their elderly or infirmed unvaccinated relatives). One would expect masking to help prevent spread from these people.

But of course... these kids and their families likely already self-select and associate closesly with other anti-vaxers outside of school to begin with, so school seems like the least of their worries. At a certain point you kind of have to ask whether it's worth trying to protect people from themselves.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#416

Post by rossdavidh »

thingification wrote: post #389
h3cate wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unpopular opinion but as countries get majority vaccinated they have to learn to not be as scared of it.

Long COVID exists. Personally, it's always worried me more than the risk of death from COVID. I think people who haven't had a chronic condition (including doctors) tend to underestimate the impact they can have on your life. Long COVID symptoms may not be "severe" or "serious" in a medical coding dictionary, but those terms in a medical dictionary are quite distinct from their everyday meanings. The best evidence we…

Yes, but, the reality is that everyone is going to get exposed to this virus eventually. Probably not that long from now, if you haven't yet. Pretending that evading it forever is possible, is not helping people to make wise decisions; I think many of the unvaccinated currently believe they can evade both the virus and the vaccine (they are incorrect). Eventually, long covid or not, we are all getting exposed. We should act accordingly.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#417

Post by heywherelogingo »

Aeolun wrote: post #325
adrr wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People aren’t scared up. Concern is around ICU usage and that elective surgery in hot areas are put on hold which include critical cancer removal surgeries. Also we have a large group of unvaccinated group which are under kids under 12. With life going back to normal, the standard diseases are back like RSV, paraflu and others. Get two at the same time and it’s a emergency room visit. Get 3 at the same time and it’s…

If they’re spending the whole day in a classroom together the effect of masks is going to be minimal.

Is there any point spending the day in the classroom with reduced oxygen to the brain?

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#418

Post by open-source-ux »

martin_bech wrote: post #347
adrr wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People aren’t scared up. Concern is around ICU usage and that elective surgery in hot areas are put on hold which include critical cancer removal surgeries. Also we have a large group of unvaccinated group which are under kids under 12. With life going back to normal, the standard diseases are back like RSV, paraflu and others. Get two at the same time and it’s a emergency room visit. Get 3 at the same time and it’s…

The masks part is easy.. it has no effect.. We have been on and off masks here in Denmark, and it seems to have no effect on spread. Also mostly you get covid when not wearing one.. from a family member or a friend..

There remain differences of opinion among scientists on how effective non-medical masks are in reducing COVID-19 transmission.

However, on the question of medical-grade masks, there is clear research that now shows some masks (e.g. FFP3 masks) are effective in stopping COVID-19 infection.

Covid: Masks upgrade cuts infection risk, research finds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-57636360

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#419

Post by heywherelogingo »

grumpitron wrote: post #373
martin_bech wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The masks part is easy.. it has no effect.. We have been on and off masks here in Denmark, and it seems to have no effect on spread. Also mostly you get covid when not wearing one.. from a family member or a friend..

Isn’t this a contradiction? “Masks don’t work” and then in the next paragraph “mostly you get COVID when not wearing [a mask]”

Only if you truncate the sentence as you have done.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#420

Post by rossdavidh »

Scoundreller wrote: post #384
rossdavidh wrote: post #36

Good article, but doesn't mention the other reason that covid-19 is never going completely away: animal reservoirs. We know that dogs, cats, hamsters, guinea pigs, mink, white-tailed deer, a gorilla, and a tiger have been found to have been infected with covid-19. It is implausible that it will ever cease to have an animal reservoir, especially given the finding in Canada of 30% of white-tailed deer having it. Of dis…

Add ferrets to the list of natural reservoirs. Thankfully birds and pigs seem to be immune, which could have had a huge impact on food supply and transmission. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6494/1016

I seem to recall them walking back the conclusion that dogs do not transmit well, but don't have the reference at hand. I wonder if they were actually mistaken at first, or if the virus has simply evolved in the direction of being better transmitted by dogs?

I wouldn't be surprised if they end up concluding that pigs can catch and transmit as well, eventually. Birds does seem to be more likely to hold true, as I don't know of any non-mammals that have been found susceptible yet.

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