141–150 of 159 posts
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We will never know since we can't measure the magnitude of an outcome that never happened. Adverse effects from fearmongering, however, did happen.
Sweden didn't do lockdowns, and suffered the same adverse effects but with multiple times the deaths of their neighbours.
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> how should we manage this as a society? If COVID crisis has been any indication, common gut feeling has proven right on many occasions such as mask, airborne, lab leak etc. It was very clear early on masks might help, until health experts chimed in with their poor messaging saying masks don’t work. The virus being aerosolized and spreading airborne was also quite clear given how common symptoms tended to be to flu,…
For the COVID stuff... the worst thing was the communication failures and outright lies all around. > It was very clear early on masks might help, until health experts chimed in with their poor messaging saying masks don’t work. The administrations (not just the 45th, we had this shit worldwide ) suddenly realized that they had no stockpile of masks and other PPE, and instead of communicating to the people and admitt…
How is that the fault of globalisation, and how is globalisation the fault of current governments? For reference, France had mask and PPE stockpiles for the swine/bird/whatever flu, but the last administration let them expire because they were considered a waste of money. (Decades into globalisation)
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Sweden didn't do lockdowns, and suffered the same adverse effects but with multiple times the deaths of their neighbours.
If they didn’t do lockdowns, how could they have suffered the same adverse effects?
When people are sick, they'll stay home, not work and isolate, lockdown or no lockdown.
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This would have been a useful comment two years ago as well. Perhaps that it is not consistently used or applied is a problem?
There were plenty of comments like this 2yr ago. They were gray and at the bottom so few took notice and eventually people stopped making them.
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This is really the reason why masks were common in Asia. Except Japan. But their pollution is a lot higher than ours. Pollution here in Barcelona is not high enough that I'd consider wearing a mask for it. And the upcoming bans of old diesels and two stroke scooters will make things even better. I'll never get used to masks anyway. They'll always be an extreme annoyance. I wear them because it's mandatory and I agree…
>Especially outside. Who wears masks outside? That's never been required in the UK.
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If they didn’t do lockdowns, how could they have suffered the same adverse effects?
Because the adverse effects came from the pandemic, and lockdowns were merely a mitigating tactic with similar adverse effects. When people are sick, they'll stay home, not work and isolate, lockdown or no lockdown.
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> It's incredibly naive to think that life would have continued as usual without lockdowns. What a truly bizarre strawman. > A month of lockdown is worse than an 80 year old (who otherwise might live some years) suffocating to death alone in a hospital? You are very lucky if you got away with just a month of lockdowns. It might not seem that way, but this is actually a simple mathematical problem. How many young heal…
You can’t seriously tell me that I’m making a bizarre strawman argument and then proceed to repeat the exact thing I’m criticizing. It’s not “simple math”. Lockdowns weren’t just to “extend life of a few 80 yo”, even though I personally think it was a worthy “trade”. What do you think would have happened without lockdowns? How many months of “the best years of their lives” would young healthy people have lost to self…
The lockdowns either had a positive or negative impact on total QALYs, this is quantifiable.
And even if the outcome was truly positive, was it truly worth the financial cost? Current research seems to indicate that we vastly overpaid in terms of $ per QALY.
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This is really the reason why masks were common in Asia. Except Japan. But their pollution is a lot higher than ours. Pollution here in Barcelona is not high enough that I'd consider wearing a mask for it. And the upcoming bans of old diesels and two stroke scooters will make things even better. I'll never get used to masks anyway. They'll always be an extreme annoyance. I wear them because it's mandatory and I agree…
>I'll never get used to masks anyway. They'll always be an extreme annoyance. I'm definitely in this category, I can't stand the things and haven't worn one since the mandate in England ended. Something about blocking my mouth and nose is just a really unpleasant sensation, it's not the type of mask or the fit rather the essential nature of having something stuck to my face. I think a lot of people really downplayed…
Unfortunately I live in Spain where they have been really relaxed this wave but here they just love their masks. It's like virtue signaling and a feeling of safety for them I guess. They were even mandatory on the streets again and still are in shops and public transport, and work all day long. About 50% of people still wear them on the street.
I really hope that they will relax it soon because I'm ready to find another country again. Too bad because until 2019 I was really happy here.
It seems to be working totally fine in other countries which have stopped them completely and sometimes even have lower vaccination rates. I wouldn't care if they locked down 3 months a year but this masking is just so difficult :(
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Yes, words matter. By intentionally using loaded words like “ruined” and “fearmongering”, I think you know exactly what message you’re trying to send.
Both accurately describe the situation.