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It's not about what happens to you or to your healthy friends. The major difference here is the long incubation period. You catch the virus, you become contagio

It's not about what happens to you or to your healthy friends. The major difference here is the long incubation period. You catch the virus, you become contagious, you pass it on, and a few days later you develop your mild cold symptoms. You go through it and you are fine. But by allowing yourself to get infected in the first place, you have spread the virus to an unknown number of people. Down the road, perhaps months later, if not enough people have vaccinated to end the pandemic, you may have indirectly caused deaths among the more vulnerable. Information on contagion: https://medical.mit.edu/covid-19-updates/2020/10/exposed-to-covid-19-how-soon-contagious https://medical.mit.edu/covid-19-updates/2020/10/exposed-to-...

Thiez 6y ago
Surely the same logic applies to all infectious diseases, and we should all get yearly flu shots, permanently practice social distancing, wear masks, etc. lest we maybe be complicit in the deaths of the vulnerable?
- pteraspidomorph 6y ago
  In some countries people wear masks when they have any respiratory diseases and do not touch the strangers they are greeting, which seems sensible. Otherwise, it depends on the parameters of the diseases you are trying to stay safe against. The thing about the flu is that you develop symptoms earlier, so the window of oportunity for unknowing transmission is shorter (on average). From what we know at this time, it's a less deadly disease than COVID-19. And it mutates quickly, with each season bringing new strains. I think if it was possible to erradicate it completely through vaccination that would be something worth considering, too. Nobody likes that it exists. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms/flu-vs-covid19.htm https://www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms/flu-vs-covid19.htm https://bgr.com/2020/10/21/coronavirus-death-rate-vs-flu-cdc-study/ https://bgr.com/2020/10/21/coronavirus-death-rate-vs-flu-cdc... (sourced)

Thiez 6y ago

Surely the same logic applies to all infectious diseases, and we should all get yearly flu shots, permanently practice social distancing, wear masks, etc. lest we maybe be complicit in the deaths of the vulnerable?

pteraspidomorph 6y ago
In some countries people wear masks when they have any respiratory diseases and do not touch the strangers they are greeting, which seems sensible. Otherwise, it depends on the parameters of the diseases you are trying to stay safe against. The thing about the flu is that you develop symptoms earlier, so the window of oportunity for unknowing transmission is shorter (on average). From what we know at this time, it's a less deadly disease than COVID-19. And it mutates quickly, with each season bringing new strains. I think if it was possible to erradicate it completely through vaccination that would be something worth considering, too. Nobody likes that it exists. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms/flu-vs-covid19.htm https://www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms/flu-vs-covid19.htm https://bgr.com/2020/10/21/coronavirus-death-rate-vs-flu-cdc-study/ https://bgr.com/2020/10/21/coronavirus-death-rate-vs-flu-cdc... (sourced)