1) California Governor Gavin Newsom recently implemented pretty strict lockdown measures in his state, and then was caught attending a birthday party at a super-fancy restaurant. Initially, Newsom *LIED* and said it was a small gathering that was held outdoors. Turns out there were 24 people in the group and it was held INDOORS. Did Newsom exhibit any shame or embarrassment? Of course not.
2) From the CDC we have heard conflicting, often contradictory claims. In the summer it was, "Outdoors:bad/Indoors:safe." Now it's winter and they say, "Outdoors:safe/Indoors:bad." Or is it the other way 'round?
3) We are told that there are numerous ways of spreading the virus other than coughing/sneezing. But we allow malls and big stores like Walmart and Costco to remain open, and it's safe - AS LONG AS EVERYONE WEARS A MASK! Yet we do not see employees of these stores dropping like flies.
4) We know that in the U.S., if you die for whatever reason (e.g. car crash) and you happen to have the coronavirus, then your cause of death is listed as: CORONAVIRUS. We know that this isn't logical, but we are told that it most certainly is the way it should be done. In our tiny brains, we wonder if that's also the way COVID-19 deaths are counted in every country...and if not, perhaps that's why the numbers in the U.S. appear to be so much worse than everywhere else?
Many people have full-time jobs, and families, and other interests. They don't personally know anyone who's either had - or died from - the coronavirus. They're not obsessed with this disease and have not made a PhD-level study of it like so many "internet experts" do. And if you consider my first four paragraphs above, all that crap adds up to a huge level of skepticism and confusion among the American people. We see the inconsistencies...the things that do not make any sense. And it is hard for us to know what or who to believe.
We know and don't deny that a lot of people have died "from coronavirus" so far. But we also know that if you're reasonably healthy, the coronavirus is just not a big risk to your life. We also know that people die - some would say, "prematurely" from a great number of things every year. And we know that sooner or later, everyone is going to die. Logical, intelligent people understand that it doesn't make sense to quarantine the healthy to save those who might get sick. Doing that cripples a society, and ultimately does more harm than good.
So right now, if you're in any of those at-risk groups (which are well-known at this point), or if you're a type of person who is always so paranoid and afraid of everything, then by all means, if you leave the house you should take all reasonable precautions.
The rest of you, get on with your damn lives.
4 comments:
You make the claim on point two that the CDC said this summer that being outdoors was bad. Any proof of that because I just don't buy into that statement at all. Yes the CDC has changed and adapted their stance on many issues as more research has been completed and we know more about this virus but that is par for the course about anything of that nature. But I just don't think any scientist who knows viruses in general is going to say that being outdoors is bad when it comes to protecting yourself from catching it. I'm guessing you are confusing that with being outdoor in a large gathering in which case, the caveat makes a world of difference.
Point three I also don't believe and have seen no evidence that people working in malls and large stores are immune from catching the virus. I also have seen no evidence showing that everyone is safe as long as one is wearing a mask. Every credible scientist or study I have seen shows quite the opposite that one can still catch the virus wearing a mask if one doesn't practice proper sanitation and socially distance. One must do all three things in order to give yourself the best defense against catching the virus.
On point four, I guess you are laying out a case to say that the death numbers in the U.S. due to Covid 19 should be lower depending on how deaths are classified. A fair point. However, if you look at any study done in the last couple decades, they all show that the U.S. spends more per capita on healthcare and has the worst outcomes of any civilized country and even many third world countries. Our life expectancies are also way below just about any country in the world. So knowing that, I would expect that our treatment of Covid-19 would most likely end up worse than any country. Why all of a sudden would we exceed the rest of the world in one disease and fail with just about every other disease. It doesn't make sense. Regardless of that, so what if we track numbers differently. I would expect the death rate in say Florida to be much higher than say Oregon just because of the relative ages of the populations. I would also expect New York City to have a death rate different than my county just due to the population density differences. What matters more to me isn't how we get the number but seeing how that number trends over time in that particular area. Even if you compare average deaths by year in the U.S., they are up 8 to 12% this year compared to previous years. That alone tells you that people are dying from this disease no matter what their ultimate death was the result.
I'm in agreement that locking down and crippling the economy and everyone under it isn't much of a better option that letting the disease take it course. However I also don't think that just telling everyone to do as they please if they are healthy is the right course of action either. I think one has to find a balance and I think states such as the one I live in have done better at that than say California. By finding a balance between saving the economy and saving people, we can limit the number of deaths and also limit the damage to local economies. Had we just let people run rampant, the deaths would have been much higher and had we completely locked down things like in California, the economic damage would be much greater.
Anyway, my two cents worth.
Ed, the thrust of my post deals with the confusion experienced by people who aren't making an intense, day-by-day study and scrutiny of the coronavirus - which I believe is the majority of Americans. I think that many people have decided (through observation and experience) that the virus is just not as serious and deadly as it was touted to be. When you hear a figure like, ohhh, "99.9 people who get coronavirus survive," it makes people a little less paranoid and fearful, the exact OPPOSITE of what the media wants and needs.
As far as point #2: it was simply that there is obviously a lot of confusion about the coronavirus coming from the various sources vying for our attention. I come to this conclusion by witnessing the number of people I see walking around my neighborhood *by themself* with a mask on...driving *by themself* with a mask on. Where are they getting the idea that they have to wear a mask outside...or in their car? Beats me. Even Uber doesn't require us to wear a mask when we are empty.
With regard to point #3: I carry a lot of Walmart employees to and from work. I always ask if any of their coworkers have come down with the coronavirus and have had to stay out, whether to quarantine or because they got sick. Answer: No.
I don't know what the stores are like where you live, Ed, but here in Pensacola, every damn Walmart is *ALWAYS* packed. Can someone who is pre- or asymptomatic spread the disease without directly coughing or sneezing on someone? If so, you'd *think* that crowded grocery stores would be those "super-spreader" locations the media is always trying to scare us about, and that the employees of said places would be the *most* susceptible of getting COVID-19. Doesn't seem to be the case.
In my point #4, I was not talking about comparative death rates among states here in the US. (And I'm not saying that the death rate in the U.S. should be lower.) I'm just wondering if *all* countries count COVID-19 deaths the same way we do? I don't know, but I'd suspect and bet they do not. We may not have a very good health care system here in the U.S., but I'll bet ours is technologically superior to those of many other countries as far as record-keeping goes.
On your last point, you and I differ greatly. We've already lost one year by dicking around with half-hearted, inconsistent policies that vary by state. The states that foolishly thought they had the virus under control (e.g. New York, California) are now seeing the inevitable sharply rising infection rates...results that come from finding out that you cannot keep people quarantined in their houses forever (not even a year, evidently). Oh, and guess what? Look at Florida's curve - it's a lot flatter than those of New York or California.
The government should have just let the virus run its course. In the long run, the cost to society would maybe have been a lot less. And the same number of people who were going to die would die anyway.
I think most research that I've seen and from what my physician wife has confirmed, Covid-19 doesn't spread very well by contact or just normal passing by of infected people, especially in stores that require masks (Walmart being one of them at least up here). So even though stores are crowded, with masks and short contact periods (seconds versus 15 minutes) your chances of getting the virus is slim or if you do, your viral load is minimal. Your viral load plays a huge factor in how sick you get. The higher the viral load, the sicker you get and the higher your chances of death. Stores just don't seem to be big spreaders, unlike bars and large parties where you are more likely to be in close contact for longer periods of time and thus get a larger viral load sitting next to something asymptomatic.
So I'm not surprised that there are no superspreader events at large stores like Walmart. But like I said, employees are still getting Covid, probably from home or from friends. I know our Walmart shut down a few days earlier on in the pandemic due to a shortage of employees and shortly there after, they or corporate (I'm not sure which), erected barricades around doors forcing people to use on entrance, only let so many people in at a time and masks became mandatory. I don't shop at Walmart so I don't know if they are still doing this at this time or not.
I know we disagree on the last point but I want to point out something. As you said, our half-hearted policies that vary by state didn't do us any good. Shutting down states like California didn't do any good. But letting the virus run it's course also didn't do any good and Sweden has been the huge guinea pig proving that. Their death rate only rivals... wait for it... the United States. So all this begs the question of what works? Sorting through the countries with low death rates and low infections rates show that consistent nationwide policies generally enforcing masks when in public, ensuring social distancing is occurring and limiting crowded events is the common factor. We definitely missed that boat and so we are paying the price.
Yeah, like any of those things would work in the United States. Please, get real.
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