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> I wonder if this is simply because there is a mismatch between what people are being told and what people are observing with their own eyes. This has been my

> I wonder if this is simply because there is a mismatch between what people are being told and what people are observing with their own eyes. This has been my experience with people who want to open things back up. They're getting together with friends, they've been going to visit family, they've gotten their kids back in school, and no one has gotten sick. They think the rest of us are being ridiculous. I almost feel like its the elephant in the room. No official has come out and said "I understand why these policies look like overkill, but if things go bad they will go bad quickly". Now the reason no official has said that is because they think people will hear the first part and discard the last part, but it's exacerbating the mistrust people already have about our government response. I will say that I'm personally finding it hard, and I fall into cycles of wondering if the sacrifices I've made a are worth it. Family members are getting older and we've probably missed out on 4-5 visits we would have had any other year, plus we're facing the possibility of seeing no one over Thanksgiving and Christmas.

eternalban 6y ago
The changes being forced, such as Health Passports, and other related matter, are not temporary in nature. “Overkill” in temporary measures would be understandable. Overkill is not an accurate characterization of a prematurely announced “new normal” that (amazingly) 100% adheres to socio-political “visions for future” by the unelected and possibly too rich.
- adamsea 6y ago
  You live up to your name, eternalban
  - eternalban 6y ago
    That is not my name, it’s a handle. (And you have no idea whatsoever where the ban is issued. HN is just a website..)
- three_legs 6y ago
  I'm curious to those who disagree with the parent why, or what exactly they find is inaccurate about their statements. "A permanent solution to a temporary problem" is a government's most practiced response.
  - eternalban 6y ago
    Because it is politically incorrect to question the official narrative, and a segment of our society has been brainwashed into conflating questioning the -hysterical- Covid-19 response with support with some actor turned president.
pjc50 6y ago
This very much depends who you know; I know of several people at the friends-of-friends level who've either been in hospital for long periods and/or have "long covid"; lingering symptoms of fatigue or worse. Young people, not over-65s. Like a lot of things, the badness is very unevenly distributed. (I also remember, very early on in the crisis, lots of news footage of coffins in Italy; that seemingly stopped once the crisis reached the UK)
- nostromo 6y ago
  If each person knows around 300 people, friends-of-friends includes almost 100,000 people. When you’re casting such a wide net, of course you’ll hear about rare events. (And the more unusual it is, the more likely you are to hear about it from friends.)
  - ImprobableTruth 6y ago
    I'm pretty sure the average amount of friends is more like 15-20 than 300.
    - nradov 6y ago
      It depends on how you define friends. Several years ago the average Facebook user had over 300 "friends". Now they might not spend much time with most of that 300 but they at least see some posts. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/02/03/what-people-like-dislike-about-facebook/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/02/03/what-people...
- petertodd 6y ago
  > I know of several people at the friends-of-friends level who've either been in hospital for long periods and/or have "long covid" I personally know someone who got very sick, and had long term symptoms ("brain fog") from catching the flu. They also may have gotten covid (direct exposure to someone who tested positive, and covid symptoms), and again, they had some long term symptoms. Long term symptoms after respiratory diseases aren't new. Heck, I'm relatively young and healthy, and the last time I got sick with what was probably the flu it took me about a month to feel 100% again.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
petertodd 6y ago
> No official has come out and said "I understand why these policies look like overkill, but if things go bad they will go bad quickly". Don't discount how many people are fully aware of how bad things could be, yet still don't believe lockdown is worth it. I know older people who themselves have been really sick with COVID-19, and seen friends die from it. Yet many of them would still rather lockdown be lifted so they can enjoy the remaining time they have. The fatality rate of COVID-19 by age roughly tracks overall mortality by age. There's lots of older people who would rather at worst double their chances of dying this year, in exchange for being able to see friends and family, not to mention big life events like new grandkids. You don't get always get a second chance at experiencing that. If you're 75, this year or two of lockdown is a significant % of your remaining life.
mcguire 6y ago
An interesting visualization that showed up on /r/dataisbeautiful a few days ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/jdffl5/oc_animation_showing_the_number_of_covid19_deaths/ https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/jdffl5/oc_... "Animation showing the number of Covid-19 deaths per 100k, by county in the US since the start of the pandemic" Watch California, compared to New York, the east coast, and eventually the midwest. (And visible rural areas as well.)
- dehrmann 6y ago
  There isn't a "third wave" like they say in the nightly news, it's really more like regional waves.

eternalban 6y ago

The changes being forced, such as Health Passports, and other related matter, are not temporary in nature. “Overkill” in temporary measures would be understandable. Overkill is not an accurate characterization of a prematurely announced “new normal” that (amazingly) 100% adheres to socio-political “visions for future” by the unelected and possibly too rich.

adamsea 6y ago
You live up to your name, eternalban
- eternalban 6y ago
  That is not my name, it’s a handle. (And you have no idea whatsoever where the ban is issued. HN is just a website..)
three_legs 6y ago
I'm curious to those who disagree with the parent why, or what exactly they find is inaccurate about their statements. "A permanent solution to a temporary problem" is a government's most practiced response.
- eternalban 6y ago
  Because it is politically incorrect to question the official narrative, and a segment of our society has been brainwashed into conflating questioning the -hysterical- Covid-19 response with support with some actor turned president.

pjc50 6y ago

This very much depends who you know; I know of several people at the friends-of-friends level who've either been in hospital for long periods and/or have "long covid"; lingering symptoms of fatigue or worse. Young people, not over-65s. Like a lot of things, the badness is very unevenly distributed. (I also remember, very early on in the crisis, lots of news footage of coffins in Italy; that seemingly stopped once the crisis reached the UK)

nostromo 6y ago
If each person knows around 300 people, friends-of-friends includes almost 100,000 people. When you’re casting such a wide net, of course you’ll hear about rare events. (And the more unusual it is, the more likely you are to hear about it from friends.)
- ImprobableTruth 6y ago
  I'm pretty sure the average amount of friends is more like 15-20 than 300.
  - nradov 6y ago
    It depends on how you define friends. Several years ago the average Facebook user had over 300 "friends". Now they might not spend much time with most of that 300 but they at least see some posts. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/02/03/what-people-like-dislike-about-facebook/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/02/03/what-people...
petertodd 6y ago
> I know of several people at the friends-of-friends level who've either been in hospital for long periods and/or have "long covid" I personally know someone who got very sick, and had long term symptoms ("brain fog") from catching the flu. They also may have gotten covid (direct exposure to someone who tested positive, and covid symptoms), and again, they had some long term symptoms. Long term symptoms after respiratory diseases aren't new. Heck, I'm relatively young and healthy, and the last time I got sick with what was probably the flu it took me about a month to feel 100% again.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

petertodd 6y ago

> No official has come out and said "I understand why these policies look like overkill, but if things go bad they will go bad quickly". Don't discount how many people are fully aware of how bad things could be, yet still don't believe lockdown is worth it. I know older people who themselves have been really sick with COVID-19, and seen friends die from it. Yet many of them would still rather lockdown be lifted so they can enjoy the remaining time they have. The fatality rate of COVID-19 by age roughly tracks overall mortality by age. There's lots of older people who would rather at worst double their chances of dying this year, in exchange for being able to see friends and family, not to mention big life events like new grandkids. You don't get always get a second chance at experiencing that. If you're 75, this year or two of lockdown is a significant % of your remaining life.

mcguire 6y ago

An interesting visualization that showed up on /r/dataisbeautiful a few days ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/jdffl5/oc_animation_showing_the_number_of_covid19_deaths/ https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/jdffl5/oc_... "Animation showing the number of Covid-19 deaths per 100k, by county in the US since the start of the pandemic" Watch California, compared to New York, the east coast, and eventually the midwest. (And visible rural areas as well.)

dehrmann 6y ago
There isn't a "third wave" like they say in the nightly news, it's really more like regional waves.