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While those are certainly measures to take, they're a non answer. We need to return to some amount of noalcy, and none of those measures are up to snuff. Litera

While those are certainly measures to take, they're a non answer. We need to return to some amount of noalcy, and none of those measures are up to snuff. Literally everyone where I live wears a mask and distances, yet cases are sky high. Somehow my grandfather caught the virus despite his assisted living home despite them being so locked down that we haven't been able to see him in person besides through a glass window. Masks and distancing just spread the deaths out over time, but they aren't a solution. Believe it or not, some of us don't like social distancing and mandatory masks in perpetuity. If we had spent more money on developing these kinds of vaccines years ago, we might not be in the situation we are in now. If you like being isolated then be my guest, but don't be on a high horse about "just" wearing masks, and so forth at this point. We all get it. Yet people continue to get sick and die.

jasonlaramburu 6y ago
>We all get it. Yet people continue to get sick and die. Is that because the interventions (masking, social distancing) are de facto ineffective, or because a critical mass of people simply ignores them?
- ravenstine 6y ago
  I don't think we really know for sure. My guess is that it's both, but that even if masks/distancing were 100% effective on their own, it's not practical to expect enough people to take them seriously enough. This isn't an engineering problem, but a human one. This is why I take issue with those here who just blame everyone not participating for why the virus has spread. By the law of averages, you will never get everyone to comply. You need virtually everyone to comply for the virus to be stopped, and all it takes is a small number of people to allow a virus to spread, which keeps happening when you keep enough healthy people from even beginning to build an immunity. These social measures are stop gaps, and anyone suggesting "or we can just social distance" as if that's an alternative to vaccines needs to get a clue. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to look at the numbers before and after lockdowns and other restrictions are put in place to realize that they aren't impactful enough to be considered a solution.

jasonlaramburu 6y ago

>We all get it. Yet people continue to get sick and die. Is that because the interventions (masking, social distancing) are de facto ineffective, or because a critical mass of people simply ignores them?

ravenstine 6y ago
I don't think we really know for sure. My guess is that it's both, but that even if masks/distancing were 100% effective on their own, it's not practical to expect enough people to take them seriously enough. This isn't an engineering problem, but a human one. This is why I take issue with those here who just blame everyone not participating for why the virus has spread. By the law of averages, you will never get everyone to comply. You need virtually everyone to comply for the virus to be stopped, and all it takes is a small number of people to allow a virus to spread, which keeps happening when you keep enough healthy people from even beginning to build an immunity. These social measures are stop gaps, and anyone suggesting "or we can just social distance" as if that's an alternative to vaccines needs to get a clue. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to look at the numbers before and after lockdowns and other restrictions are put in place to realize that they aren't impactful enough to be considered a solution.