51–60 of 103 posts
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That depends on the level of preparation and the steps taken to mitigate risk. Further, sometimes those levels of preparation and mitigation are actually more harmful than the danger itself.
That’s true. It’s a cost/benefit, risk/reward calculation that everyone needs to make.
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So were you going through life wearing a mask to mitigate the risk of a deadly flu in 2018 and before? I think probably not, but if your priority is risk mitigation, shouldn't you have been? Risk mitigation is not my priority. If it were, I'd never ride my bike again, even with my helmet. I'd never go kayaking, or rock climbing. I wouldn't swim in lakes, and you'd never catch me in the ocean. If I were preparing for…
>So were you going through life wearing a mask to mitigate the risk of a deadly flu in 2018 and before? I think probably not, but if your priority is risk mitigation, shouldn't you have been? During flu season? Of course. As well as soon any cold symptoms were felt. My institution would also issue stay-at-home recommendations during flu outbreaks.
It may well be less deadly, but it is far more contagious. Reinfection also seems to be not uncommon. We do not fully understand the long term effects of even a mild case, or indeed how repeated reinfection might compound any such effects, given that we might expect to catch it once or twice a year as opposed to once or twice in our lives for flu.
> "given that we might expect to catch it once or twice a year" There is absolutely no reason to expect that.
It’s at the upper end of what I might guess but it’s plausible for some portion of the population.
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The elderly, people with health conditions and their carers can’t take such liberties. It’s a shame how easily we overlook and disregard swathes of people.
These people have always been more vulnerable to diseases and less likely to survive them. COVID changes nothing.
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Or I don't die from covid, and my toddler has lifelong slight disadvantage in language acquisition due to hysteria.
good point, many asian countries (where public masking has been commonplace well before covid) have notoriously terrible students and learning issues.
I never wear a mask when I'm with my toddler, even in public. I'd rather suffer whatever bad effects that bring me than risk lifelong language issues.
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You do realize there is a happy middle ground between hiding inside forever and pretending COVID doesn't exist, right?
Yes, that middle ground is stopping all required COVID mitigations and let people live their lives as they did before. COVID is here to stay. Time to start treating it like every other endemic disease. ps Pretty sure the comment you responded to was sarcasm.
People lead their lives under all sorts of necessary restrictions (e.g. seatbelts, motorbike helmets). Unfortunately these extra restrictions highlighted that uncomfortable and inevitable fact. Some people have been able to deal with this better than others.
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> So were you going through life wearing a mask to mitigate the risk of a deadly flu in 2018 and before? I think probably not, but if your priority is risk mitigation, shouldn't you have been? No because those flu viruses were not novel, or as deadly. When there is a large degree of uncertainty (like a deadly novel virus), I personally tend towards caution and am fine being too cautious rather than not cautious enoug…
> No because those flu viruses were not novel, or as deadly. That information always lags reality. When/if the next deadly flu strain emerges, it will have emerged before it is discovered to have emerged. If you're not planning for this scenario, are you really planning for the worst case? You could be Patient Zero for Spanish Flu Part Two, with your preemptive masking being the difference between global disaster and…
No, I was being a little loose with my language there. I didn’t mean the literal worst case of being patient 0. I agree that I don’t plan for that. My personal risk tolerance is higher than that.
I meant the more colloquial worst case of hearing about a deadly virus spreading rapidly in the news and then deciding to react with an abundance of caution once it seems probable that my community will be affected. Then I’m fine playing it safe.
Just like I would with any other forecasted threat from Mother Nature like a fire, hurricane, blizzard, etc.
The more certainty it’s going to affect me + the greater uncertainty of the short & long terms effects = the greater the caution.
So in 2020 when I was highly confident COVID would infect my community + there was very little info about how deadly it was = I was overly cautious
As more info came out I became less cautious.
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"Long Covid" is mainly just hypochondria. A lot less of it is real than the hype would have you believe. The media loves spooky stuff because it generates clicks. Hypochondriacs are a thing: they are out there. Some of them have gotten Covid-19, and that of course turns into their new obsession.
Hypochondriacs do exist in the world, but I think you're being very dismissive. Lung scarring is certainly real and can take a long time (up to a year) to fully heal. This isn't imaginary: lung function and capacity can be quantified and measured.
I don't doubt that tissue damage from Covid isn't real; like people having loss of smell or heart trouble.
But there is considerable scaremongering around it which plays into the psychology of hypochondria.
A healthy dose of skepticism is needed here, and remembering where the burden of proof lies.
It may well be less deadly, but it is far more contagious. Reinfection also seems to be not uncommon. We do not fully understand the long term effects of even a mild case, or indeed how repeated reinfection might compound any such effects, given that we might expect to catch it once or twice a year as opposed to once or twice in our lives for flu.
The flu once mutated to be very deadly, and there's no particular reason it couldn't happen again. For all anybody really knows, the next super deadly flu strain might show up tomorrow. Are you going to spend your life terrified of this "what if" scenario too?
Regarding the flu - indeed this was expected to be the next pandemic, but the lowly coronavirus got there first! Should there be a deadly flu outbreak, or even another coronavirus, I hope our response will be less politicized and more effective.
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enjoy your long covid! https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2022/03/living-with-covid-mo...
"Long Covid" is mainly just hypochondria. A lot less of it is real than the hype would have you believe. The media loves spooky stuff because it generates clicks. Hypochondriacs are a thing: they are out there. Some of them have gotten Covid-19, and that of course turns into their new obsession.