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The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

theatlantic.com

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Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#511

Post by xadhominemx »

SQueeeeeL wrote: post #504
beloch wrote: post #489

"The transition to endemic COVID-19 is also a psychological one. When everyone has some immunity, a COVID-19 diagnosis becomes as routine as diagnosis of strep or flu—not good news, but not a reason for particular fear or worry or embarrassment either. That means unlearning a year of messaging that said COVID-19 was not just a flu. If the confusion around the CDC dropping mask recommendations for the vaccinated earli…

People will always be sceptical of deviations from the status quo and politicians will always be there to capitalize on those fears for substantial gains of power. We have the most educated populis in human history and we're still seeing these problems. I'm not sure how you could fix vaccines becoming a political issue without major changes to the political structure.

Vaccine refusal has not become a major partisan political issue in any other country. It happened here because of the shameless cynicism of the Republican Party and aligned media apparatus.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#512

Post by boringg »

SQueeeeeL wrote: post #504
beloch wrote: post #489

"The transition to endemic COVID-19 is also a psychological one. When everyone has some immunity, a COVID-19 diagnosis becomes as routine as diagnosis of strep or flu—not good news, but not a reason for particular fear or worry or embarrassment either. That means unlearning a year of messaging that said COVID-19 was not just a flu. If the confusion around the CDC dropping mask recommendations for the vaccinated earli…

People will always be sceptical of deviations from the status quo and politicians will always be there to capitalize on those fears for substantial gains of power. We have the most educated populis in human history and we're still seeing these problems. I'm not sure how you could fix vaccines becoming a political issue without major changes to the political structure.

We might have one of the most educated populations of all time but it’s still woefully uneducated.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#513

Post by eropple »

linuxftw wrote: post #499
beloch wrote: post #489

"The transition to endemic COVID-19 is also a psychological one. When everyone has some immunity, a COVID-19 diagnosis becomes as routine as diagnosis of strep or flu—not good news, but not a reason for particular fear or worry or embarrassment either. That means unlearning a year of messaging that said COVID-19 was not just a flu. If the confusion around the CDC dropping mask recommendations for the vaccinated earli…

> such as chicken pox, once caused epidemics with massive body counts Never happened. Almost nobody ever died of chicken pox. Fear mongering like this is exactly why nobody trusts the CDC and FDA. It's all quackery.

This is a statement that cannot be substantiated with any confidence. In particular, the Native American side of the Columbian exchange saw massive body counts due to a mixture of diseases and my understanding is that chicken pox is among the suspects.

It isn't "quackery" just because you don't like it.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2957993/

(edit: 'javagram got there first!)

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#514

Post by evnc »

josephcsible wrote: post #174
jrockway wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe "mask requirements" are a sign of society advancing? There was a time in human history when we didn't bathe regularly, or brush our teeth, or have sewage removal systems in cities, etc. Maybe the next step is "you know, breathing in particles that came from the other 600 people in this railcar is not so great". I certainly don't see a reason to go maskless on public transportation in the future. And, as supply…

You're saying society should keep wearing masks everywhere literally forever? That's so insane I can't tell whether you're even serious.

Is it insane that everyone should keep wearing clothes everywhere literally forever?

If I found being nude to be significantly more comfortable/freeing than being clothed, I would still be expected to wear clothing in public spaces for both politeness and sanitary (e.g. sitting on subway seats) reasons.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#515

Post by asadkn »

Wouldn't it be better, then, at this point, to focus on hospitalization numbers rather than infections or deaths alone. As vaccines have been, reportedly, very good at preventing hospitalizations.

It doesn't matter if there's 1 death, if hundreds are being hospitalized per day, overflowing the health care system.

The problem isn't just mortality rate of covid-19 itself, it's also how hospitals are other treatments are affected. You better hope you don't get sick when the health care system is overloaded or at capacity.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#516

Post by commandlinefan »

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..

> it seems to have no effect on spread

We wore them for a year. Covid is still here. It won't go away if we wear them for another year. It won't go away if we wear them for another ten years.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#517

Post by phreeza »

NonContro wrote: post #381
staticassertion wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK seems to have a 62% full vaccination rate with 71% having at least one dose[0]. That sounds really low to me. "Close to full vaccination" to me would imply close to 100% or, reading "full" as "reaching herd immunity" I'd think 70-80% fully vaccinated - still a very long way to go. I hear you that we will eventually reach a point where we've hit the new normal. It's just going to be whether that point is reache…

92% of Brits have COVID antibodies, either through exposure or immunity: https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-around-nine-in-10-adults...

92% of the Brits eligible for vaccination.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#518

Post by javagram »

misiti3780 wrote: post #463
jmull wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Unfortunately, it would seem the data would suggest yes. Per the CDC: From 1999 –2000 through 2017 –2018, US obesity prevalence increased from 30.5% to 42.4%. During the same time, the prevalence of severe obesity increased from 4.7% to 9.2%. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html

Obesity has also increased among wild animals https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28261232

While dieting can control obesity, we have decades of evidence to show it isn’t easy. Bariatric surgery does seem to work but is invasive and dangerous.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#519

Post by martin_bech »

throwaway4good wrote: post #383
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..

It has a quite an effect. If you notice at the moment the corona numbers are high in Netherlands and Denmark while low in Germany. Because Germany has kept more restrictions in place, in particular mask wearing in shops and transport.

The case count for Germany atm is very impressive, but we ditched masks in June, and cases actually plummeted after that, and only started to rise with the delta variant. We still compared to most have a low infection rate.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#520

Post by nvrspyx »

linuxftw wrote: post #499
beloch wrote: post #489

"The transition to endemic COVID-19 is also a psychological one. When everyone has some immunity, a COVID-19 diagnosis becomes as routine as diagnosis of strep or flu—not good news, but not a reason for particular fear or worry or embarrassment either. That means unlearning a year of messaging that said COVID-19 was not just a flu. If the confusion around the CDC dropping mask recommendations for the vaccinated earli…

> such as chicken pox, once caused epidemics with massive body counts Never happened. Almost nobody ever died of chicken pox. Fear mongering like this is exactly why nobody trusts the CDC and FDA. It's all quackery.

Why would you reply with such confidence in something you clearly know nothing about?

Chicken pox is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, which can certainly be fatal if contracted as an adult (i.e shingles) and never been exposed to it as a child. _Now_, most people are exposed to it when they're children, when it's much less serious, but vaccination is still the preferred method because it can still be deadly in children in certain cases.

FYI, ~6.4K people still die every year to chicken pox and shingles. It may seem comparatively small, but that's still people who die. Before a vaccine was created, it was around 4x that.

Vaccination has empirically been shown to reduce the number of major hospitalizations and deaths as a result of the virus. It's an injustice to undermine _any_ number of lives potentially saved or thousands in hospital bills avoided because you believe science is "quackery".

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