Since I've taken up this platform I've only put out one post "of my own" and that was really just a test to see if anyone would engage on this strange, new place I was checking out. I prefer to respond to other people and discuss what's on their minds rather than to put my own topics out there. But this has really been bugging me lately, so I'm going to throw it out there and if no one cares then nothing changes and I'll keep kicking it around in my own mind.
If you don't want to hear or think about COVID feel free to tune out now and not follow along with the rest of my thoughts.
I am really interested in what people have to say here, and I welcome any real life thoughts on the subject whether you are having the same experiences or not. What I'm really not interested in is any "COVID isn't real" or "plandemic" nonsense and I'll block accordingly.
@BE I'm so grateful that you posted this thread. Our little family have been extremely careful and haven't been sick--with anything--for nearly three years. We're lucky to have friends who 'indulge' our cautiousness. But we know many people who suffer from lingering symptoms or who have developed serious conditions. Hardly anyone wants to admit they even had Covid. 1/
A sincere thank you for taking the time to respond. Your experience and ours are remarkably similar.
We've discussed it in our house going into 2023 and we're all still 100% on board with the plan, so into the next semester of homeschool we go this week!
@BE Perhaps it's because we homeschooled our kid for many years that we were prepared in some ways? Or perhaps because we all have strong science backgrounds and make evidence-based decisions about our health? Or just dumb luck because dear friends caught it bad in early 2020, so we were cautious right away?
It's so painful to watch friends and family waking up to the reality of the dangers of repeat infections a little late.
Why some people were cautious right away and some weren't and then some have stayed cautious and other's haven't has been something I've spent a lot of time thinking about. The ones that gets me more than anything are the ones who were cautious and then suddenly went "Nah, this is all fine." The triggers for that require some serious cognitive dissonance as far as I can tell.
@BE Only when there was an imminent threat (choir Covid outbreak) did the behaviour of singers change: next rehearsal cancelled, following rehearsal on Zoom, following rehearsal with 80 percent of the choir wearing masks voluntarily, performance with 25 percent of the choir wearing masks. People look to those around them for behavioural cues--and at leaders, who are modelling "the pandemic is over."
You're not wrong. As NPR sent me a request for money today, that I scoffed at, I instantly thought about how they jumped on the minimizing bandwagon and how that contributed to rational people justifying no more precautions. I guess I prefer to study things myself and come to my own conclusions, but it does seem obvious that some people just follow the herd.
@BE @micropainter on this point, I’ve gotten irrationally angry about all the articles freaking out about China and 9,000 Covid deaths a day they just hit. Why am I pissed? Because on a per capita level that’s still below the current U.S. daily death rate… which they don’t report
I am 100% with you there. It's a clear political scapegoat situation to me. As soon as enough people realize that immunity debt isn't explaining the situation it'll be politically expedient to say "We had it all under control and then China went and messed it all up." I'm already worrying for the people who will suffer with all of the racist talking points.
@BE @micropainter it’s just a bullshit “look at the monkey, look at the monkey” <shakes stuffed monkey with one hand up in the air>
To distract people, because the whole point is those in power are ok with death & sickness as long as people are buying & working, b/c profits of those in charge of everything
@voron @BE @micropainter Last I checked, US currently has around 400 covid deaths/day; scaling that up to China's population would be 1600/day. Rather less than 9000.
@voron @mindstalk @micropainter
The 9,000 is a real number as best I can tell.
"China is probably witnessing 9,000 Covid-related deaths daily as the country is experiencing a new wave of Covid infections, claims UK-based health data firm Airfinity."
The projections are all over the place going forward. Depending on what model you go with it goes from 500,000 deaths in 2023(which I find laughably small) to millions. I think a reasonable mid-point seems to be 1.5 - 2.0 million which fits right into the IHME forecast. That would be a further ~5,000 a day across 2023.
@BE Bellwethers, including political leaders, CMOHs, celebrities, and 'influencers' modelling "pandemic is over, masks/vax are not neccesary / don't work anyway" behaviour have a domino effect. We ALL long for this to be over, too. So the more people don't mask or vax, the more people don't mask or vax, the more this is seen as 'normal.' Even though virus / case / long Covid data says otherwise. That's my two cents, anyway.
@BE One more observation of human nature: NONE of us want to think we have put our health or our loved ones in danger with our decisions. It's too painful. But the pandemic has put parents with school-aged or daycare-aged kids, for example, in an impossible position. And it's just exhausting to analyze every situation for potential danger (exposure).
You're absolutely right on all of that, too. I never take it for granted that we were able to take precautions that others simply couldn't. That's a very different situation than the people who pretend there's no problem with living like 2019.
In our world I worry about those situations in which there's no avoiding the risk. They eventually come up!
@SmallTownGirl @BE This is frightening. Wondering how insurance companies, public healthcare are going to handle what feels like a tsunami of chronic illness coming our way.
@SmallTownGirl @micropainter @BE
My understanding is that the learning gap is widening every year of this pandemic. There's just no way to cover everything when so much time is missed.
@SmallTownGirl @BE I see this in a small way in my kid's much smaller university classes. Students are exceptionally stressed with constant illness on top of big course loads. Her profs are very accommodating with extended deadlines, making missed class information available, etc. One prof even gave up to 2 extra hours to complete the final exam.
Oh absolutely. There's no way to teach a class, in a traditional setting, when there's so many people in and out. Both kids and teachers.
I've become a big fan of online education. Not the stop gap measures that teachers valiantly tried to make work on the fly, but real online schools that have often been doing it for decades. That's a whole other topic, though :)
@SmallTownGirl @BE We homeschooled our kid through junior high, which was the right choice for her. Some of it was online, which worked well. More recently, she did a year of online during the 2021 pandemic year--but she was lucky to have one full-year drama class that was in person. The mix worked well--campus was like a ghost town, but the small drama class became a little cohort. The teachers were very strict about pandemic restrictions, so no one got sick that entire year.
I completely agree. My kids are currently in an online school that's been open for over 20 years. As a fairly well educated human being married to a teacher I can tell you that the curriculum's better and the results for my kids are better than what we were getting from our local brick and mortar school which is quite well rated.
Oh absolutely. I should have been more clear and that's my fault. The online school has been better than pre-pandemic brick and mortar.
My wife tells me about students of hers who were formerly great students who now just can't find the words to make it through tests. I definitely worry about this a lot.
I absolutely see the same, especially with kids that are in daycare. Which makes sense given the germ breeding grounds that they are. It must be so exhausting to be sick all the time.
This is why early on my rule was "I don't do buildings that aren't mine." Boy, the confused looks I'd get. It means I don't take my mask off in any building except my home and my car. Period. It's made it sooo much easier to navigate situations.
@justyourluck @micropainter @BE
💔Imagine how brave a masked six-year old must have to be, seated all day in a classroom of unmasked classmates and facing an unmasked teacher.
@BE But those who were cautious, then tossed the masks and boosters were following the crowd. I think it can be explained by peer pressure and mass 'hysteria' / movement.
My personal observation is that when 60 percent of people are wearing masks, others will put them on. When we got boosted, friends ask us which pharmacy to go to and got boosted themselves. 1/