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 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/
@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
@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.
