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but goddamn I am so tired of this throwing around numbers game. Can we just fucking fight this virus already? Because the numbers actually matter. We could sav

but goddamn I am so tired of this throwing around numbers game. Can we just fucking fight this virus already? Because the numbers actually matter. We could save lives by quarantining the entire population during every flu season. We don't, because the social and economic costs would far outweigh the benefits. It may well be the case that COVID is so dangerous that it justifies destroying millions of jobs, disrupting children's education, and forbidding physical proximity with friends and family. But if you're going to argue for that you need to use numbers rather than righteous indignation.

saalweachter 6y ago
At the same time ... I'm not sure we haven't just been complacent as a civilization regarding the seasonal flu. Yearly lockdowns may be a step too far, but would it be so terrible if everyone wore cloth masks during flu seasons, if remote work was more standard for white collar jobs, if everyone else were able to take time off when sick, and if we had a plan for sick kids besides sending them to school with a pocket full of kleenex?
- samatman 6y ago
  Flu is uncommonly asymptomatic during the infectious period. Adopting the Asian custom of wearing bog-standard blue medical masks when we have the sniffles is a fine idea, overdue really. Everyone wearing cloth masks during every flu season is an absurd overreaction.
barumi 6y ago
> Because the numbers actually matter. If numbers actually mattered for then then they wouldn't be both neglecting official statistics, specially growth rates, and also fabricating their own data out of thin air. These people don't care about numbers or facts. These people are too embroiled in their petty world view or conspiracy theories to care about the harm they are doing to everyone around them. These idiots complain about jobs and classes as if having a million people dying on them and many more being debilitated is something that harms no one or their economy. This shit could have been contained if these idiots acted responsible and stayed put and took basic sanitary precautions. But no. I lived in Spain during the start of the year, and witnessed the spanish army trucks carting healthcare workers around and carrying loudspeakers asking people to stay indoors in a time where, according to verified tests, nearly a thousand people were dying per day due to covid. The death rate was so high that the spanish government had to commandeer an ice ring to serve as a makeshift morgue. Social distancing and lockdown and basic sanitary care drove those numbers to single digits in about a month.

saalweachter 6y ago

At the same time ... I'm not sure we haven't just been complacent as a civilization regarding the seasonal flu. Yearly lockdowns may be a step too far, but would it be so terrible if everyone wore cloth masks during flu seasons, if remote work was more standard for white collar jobs, if everyone else were able to take time off when sick, and if we had a plan for sick kids besides sending them to school with a pocket full of kleenex?

samatman 6y ago
Flu is uncommonly asymptomatic during the infectious period. Adopting the Asian custom of wearing bog-standard blue medical masks when we have the sniffles is a fine idea, overdue really. Everyone wearing cloth masks during every flu season is an absurd overreaction.

barumi 6y ago

> Because the numbers actually matter. If numbers actually mattered for then then they wouldn't be both neglecting official statistics, specially growth rates, and also fabricating their own data out of thin air. These people don't care about numbers or facts. These people are too embroiled in their petty world view or conspiracy theories to care about the harm they are doing to everyone around them. These idiots complain about jobs and classes as if having a million people dying on them and many more being debilitated is something that harms no one or their economy. This shit could have been contained if these idiots acted responsible and stayed put and took basic sanitary precautions. But no. I lived in Spain during the start of the year, and witnessed the spanish army trucks carting healthcare workers around and carrying loudspeakers asking people to stay indoors in a time where, according to verified tests, nearly a thousand people were dying per day due to covid. The death rate was so high that the spanish government had to commandeer an ice ring to serve as a makeshift morgue. Social distancing and lockdown and basic sanitary care drove those numbers to single digits in about a month.