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It depends entirely on who you talk to. Urban America is taking this threat seriously and locking down for the winter while rural America thinks it's a hoax. In

It depends entirely on who you talk to. Urban America is taking this threat seriously and locking down for the winter while rural America thinks it's a hoax. In Virginia, our cities are keeping the curve flattened, while the virus is surging off the charts in our rural communities. Nothing convinces them. When a loved one dies of asphyxiation, they shrug it off and say that person died of obesity, old age, or a lack of vitamins. We have nurses telling stories of patients struggling to breath, but who still refuse to believe this virus is real and only cease gasping about the "fake news" when they are intubated. Complicating this is our HIPAA regulations. The media can't show you what's happening inside our hospitals right now. They can only show the refrigeration trucks for bodies and roads closed for oxygen trucks outside the hospitals. So the conspiracy theorists claim these are for show and that the hospitals are actually empty. With the complete abdication of leadership at the federal level--where some of our officials are openly urging citizens to fight against policies slowing the spread of the virus, we can do nothing but stay inside and hope to ride this out.

anon9001 6y ago
I think that's pretty accurate, but even in Urban America there's a divide between people who aren't taking any chances vs people who are wearing PPE but are living their best life. For me, I'm just not going anywhere or doing anything. It turns out that I can have everything delivered, and my risk is essentially 0. I'm going to wait it out until there's a vaccine. If the numbers dip very low in my area, I might try to squeeze in a doctor and dentist visit. I'm not immunocompromised, but it's not that hard to live as if I was. I'm considering this whole thing a bit of an experiment to see how self-sufficient I can be. Conversely, I have coworkers that are traveling all over the country (wearing masks), and staying at cheap airbnb's. Some are relocating because of the changing housing market. If you don't mind taking on a minimal amount of risk, you can get a lot of good deals on flights/hotels/airbnbs/apartments/etc right now. Personally, even a little risk isn't worth it when I know there's 95% effective vaccine being manufactured. At this point, it's obvious that we'll never get rid of COVID-19 entirely as a disease. Hopefully it'll become a disease only for the people that believe in "fake news" and "anti-vax".
emboliart 6y ago
The rural-urban divide comes down to the understanding that death is the price for life, which has vanished in the urban millieu, but it's still visceral to those living closer to nature and its ubiquitous birth-life-death cycle. Covid is yet another disease that's going to take away a certain (small!) fraction of the population, for little fault other than being born with the wrong genetic makeup. Given the extreme infectiousness, everybody is going to get it within a span of a few years. Those that will die, will die. Most will survive. Life goes on. Covid is nothing new, 100 years ago, before antibiotics, pneumonia was significantly more deadly, and yet here we are. The answer to death is birth, not cowering in a basement. The astute reader will retort 'BUT VACCINES'. This deserves a special note. The cold logic of natural selection is that descendants of organisms naturally resistant to disease inherit the Earth. We can supplant disease resistance with artificial means, of which vaccines are amazingly effective. To a point. Beyond which we realize that we've inadvertently cultivated a debilitated fragile population that can only survive through sophisticated technological methods. Any disruption of the technological supply chains then brings swift and large scale catastrophe. Hoping that our Andaman and Amish brothers and sisters will still be around at the time of reckoning. Let's have a bit more charity. People worry and suffer and grieve like the rest of us. They just don't surrender their lives, as short or long as they will end up being, to fear of a disease that, by now, it's obviously not anywhere near as deadly as the Plague.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- Analemma_ 6y ago
  This is sophist crap, reverse-engineered to justify your dislike of urbanites. If the situation were reversed-- people in urban areas behaving carelessly and dying in droves while in rural areas people were taking appropriate precautions-- you'd be screaming about how it just proves that the "urban milieu" is atomized and doesn't care about anyone but themselves, while in rural areas people still care about their community above the individual.
- Buttons840 6y ago
  > The rural-urban divide comes down to the understanding that death is the price for life, which has vanished in the urban millieu, but it's still visceral to those living closer to nature and its ubiquitous birth-life-death cycle. This is a thought provoking viewpoint that could be explored better. Beyond that though, the point of the first paragraph seems to be that "everybody is going to get it... those that will die will die". I disagree. You anticipate one of the most concrete rebuttals to the first paragraph, vaccines, and then proceed to argue that vaccines are bad because they disrupt natural selection. This is an absurd argument. Are you opposed to children's hospitals because they disrupt natural selection? Your rebuttal is not relevant. What you have argued is a small and theoretical downside to vaccines, but it is not a rebuttal. Vaccines have completely eliminated multiple diseases. They will help with Covid and save lives, and the fact that they have a small downside by disrupting natural selection does not change the fact that they will help and save lives. You only address vaccines while ignoring other counterpoints: I live in an area where our hospitals are at capacity. There are dozens (dozens!) of ICU bed available for millions of people. Only a couple dozen ICU beds for the entire state, and these beds need to serve not only the worst Covid cases but all other patients who have had heart attacks or any other health issues. I strongly disagree that "those that will die will die", but instead say that "those that don't have to die will die" if we don't wear masks and follow community guidelines. You then close by asking for more charity. After having said "everybody is going to get it... those that will die will die... life goes on" you ask for others to have more charity...
mixmastamyk 6y ago
A bit melodramatic. However I'd say the hoax folks will reap what they sow. The truth always comes out eventually. Personal responsibility is a thing as well. Collateral damage is a shame, but there's a limit to how much you force other people to do what you want. So be it.
- xnyan 6y ago
  >A bit melodramatic It might seem so, but I'd say it's accurate, for exmaple: “Their last dying words are, ‘This can’t be happening. It’s not real,’” Doering said, adding that some patients prefer to believe that they have pneumonia or other diseases rather than covid-19, despite seeing their positive test results.[1] [1]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/11/16/south-dakota-nurse-coronavirus-deniers/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/11/16/south-dakot...
  - mixmastamyk 6y ago
    It sounds harsh, but people die every day, many because of their own negligence. We can warn them ahead of time the best we can, but that's about it. Keep in mind the general urge to call them morons has the opposite effect. Not saying anyone in the thread specifically has done that, but melodrama/hand-wringing is in the neighborhood.

anon9001 6y ago

I think that's pretty accurate, but even in Urban America there's a divide between people who aren't taking any chances vs people who are wearing PPE but are living their best life. For me, I'm just not going anywhere or doing anything. It turns out that I can have everything delivered, and my risk is essentially 0. I'm going to wait it out until there's a vaccine. If the numbers dip very low in my area, I might try to squeeze in a doctor and dentist visit. I'm not immunocompromised, but it's not that hard to live as if I was. I'm considering this whole thing a bit of an experiment to see how self-sufficient I can be. Conversely, I have coworkers that are traveling all over the country (wearing masks), and staying at cheap airbnb's. Some are relocating because of the changing housing market. If you don't mind taking on a minimal amount of risk, you can get a lot of good deals on flights/hotels/airbnbs/apartments/etc right now. Personally, even a little risk isn't worth it when I know there's 95% effective vaccine being manufactured. At this point, it's obvious that we'll never get rid of COVID-19 entirely as a disease. Hopefully it'll become a disease only for the people that believe in "fake news" and "anti-vax".

emboliart 6y ago

The rural-urban divide comes down to the understanding that death is the price for life, which has vanished in the urban millieu, but it's still visceral to those living closer to nature and its ubiquitous birth-life-death cycle. Covid is yet another disease that's going to take away a certain (small!) fraction of the population, for little fault other than being born with the wrong genetic makeup. Given the extreme infectiousness, everybody is going to get it within a span of a few years. Those that will die, will die. Most will survive. Life goes on. Covid is nothing new, 100 years ago, before antibiotics, pneumonia was significantly more deadly, and yet here we are. The answer to death is birth, not cowering in a basement. The astute reader will retort 'BUT VACCINES'. This deserves a special note. The cold logic of natural selection is that descendants of organisms naturally resistant to disease inherit the Earth. We can supplant disease resistance with artificial means, of which vaccines are amazingly effective. To a point. Beyond which we realize that we've inadvertently cultivated a debilitated fragile population that can only survive through sophisticated technological methods. Any disruption of the technological supply chains then brings swift and large scale catastrophe. Hoping that our Andaman and Amish brothers and sisters will still be around at the time of reckoning. Let's have a bit more charity. People worry and suffer and grieve like the rest of us. They just don't surrender their lives, as short or long as they will end up being, to fear of a disease that, by now, it's obviously not anywhere near as deadly as the Plague.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
Analemma_ 6y ago
This is sophist crap, reverse-engineered to justify your dislike of urbanites. If the situation were reversed-- people in urban areas behaving carelessly and dying in droves while in rural areas people were taking appropriate precautions-- you'd be screaming about how it just proves that the "urban milieu" is atomized and doesn't care about anyone but themselves, while in rural areas people still care about their community above the individual.
Buttons840 6y ago
> The rural-urban divide comes down to the understanding that death is the price for life, which has vanished in the urban millieu, but it's still visceral to those living closer to nature and its ubiquitous birth-life-death cycle. This is a thought provoking viewpoint that could be explored better. Beyond that though, the point of the first paragraph seems to be that "everybody is going to get it... those that will die will die". I disagree. You anticipate one of the most concrete rebuttals to the first paragraph, vaccines, and then proceed to argue that vaccines are bad because they disrupt natural selection. This is an absurd argument. Are you opposed to children's hospitals because they disrupt natural selection? Your rebuttal is not relevant. What you have argued is a small and theoretical downside to vaccines, but it is not a rebuttal. Vaccines have completely eliminated multiple diseases. They will help with Covid and save lives, and the fact that they have a small downside by disrupting natural selection does not change the fact that they will help and save lives. You only address vaccines while ignoring other counterpoints: I live in an area where our hospitals are at capacity. There are dozens (dozens!) of ICU bed available for millions of people. Only a couple dozen ICU beds for the entire state, and these beds need to serve not only the worst Covid cases but all other patients who have had heart attacks or any other health issues. I strongly disagree that "those that will die will die", but instead say that "those that don't have to die will die" if we don't wear masks and follow community guidelines. You then close by asking for more charity. After having said "everybody is going to get it... those that will die will die... life goes on" you ask for others to have more charity...

mixmastamyk 6y ago

A bit melodramatic. However I'd say the hoax folks will reap what they sow. The truth always comes out eventually. Personal responsibility is a thing as well. Collateral damage is a shame, but there's a limit to how much you force other people to do what you want. So be it.

xnyan 6y ago
>A bit melodramatic It might seem so, but I'd say it's accurate, for exmaple: “Their last dying words are, ‘This can’t be happening. It’s not real,’” Doering said, adding that some patients prefer to believe that they have pneumonia or other diseases rather than covid-19, despite seeing their positive test results.[1] [1]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/11/16/south-dakota-nurse-coronavirus-deniers/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/11/16/south-dakot...
- mixmastamyk 6y ago
  It sounds harsh, but people die every day, many because of their own negligence. We can warn them ahead of time the best we can, but that's about it. Keep in mind the general urge to call them morons has the opposite effect. Not saying anyone in the thread specifically has done that, but melodrama/hand-wringing is in the neighborhood.