4 ms·

I see your point, but I have a hard time imagining how, 20 years down the line, we could point to the SARS-COV2 pandemic as a principal cause of historic change

I see your point, but I have a hard time imagining how, 20 years down the line, we could point to the SARS-COV2 pandemic as a principal cause of historic change the way the 9/11 attacks were. Contributing factor? Sure, I'm sure it'll have all kinds of downstream effects.

ls612 5y ago
Imagine masks, distancing restrictions, etc becoming the knee jerk response every year there’s a bad flu scare or something like the Ebola cases in 2014 happens. This pandemic will be remembered not for the virus but for the massive and permanent social changes it brought to the west.
- Sebb767 5y ago
  Also: Home office, redistribution of wealth, climate impact and not to forget the financial impact. Plus possible long covid problems in a large share of people. There's a lot we will 'enjoy' for a long time.
- kelnos 5y ago
  If people, post-pandemic, would (voluntarily) mask up and distance when they're not feeling well, I think it would reduce flu and common-cold transmission quite a lot throughout the year. This sort of thing is already common in some places and I'd be thrilled if it became a thing in the US. (But agree that knee-jerk mandatory restrictions would be a terrible outcome.)
  - dimitrios1 5y ago
    But at what cost -- is the question I have, and too few are asking. The young, healthy working aged adults are the "front line" against many dangerous viruses and bacteria. What happens when you remove the natural herd immunity? (Wasn't it something like 40-45% of the US was already naturally immune against COVID when the lockdowns first started happening?) My guess is if we switch to pure defense, when the next big novel virus comes along, it will wipe out a whole lot more of us.
    - kelnos 5y ago
      Look at east and southeast Asia. They mask up all the time when they're not feeling well. Are common colds and other things much worse there? I don't think so. Your worry here seems to be hypothetical and not based on any reasonable epidemiological theory.
      - dimitrios1 5y ago
        My worry is based on the concerns of the top professors of epidemiology at Oxford, and Stanford School of medicine. > Are common colds and other things much worse there? I don't think so. I would love to investigate this further, considering the latest 3 deadly strains of H1N1, and SARS have come from here. But given that we don't have any reliable data (data we can trust), it's hard to tell what actually is going on there. We are only told what we want to be told by an authoritarian regime.
anonfornoreason 5y ago
Just imagine what a whole generation of kids will grow up to be like as a result of the social changes that have played out directly due to the pandemic. Definitely a large inflection point. Maybe the changes will be subtler but I would be shocked if we didn’t have noticeable, analyzable changes to the course of history based off that alone.

ls612 5y ago

Imagine masks, distancing restrictions, etc becoming the knee jerk response every year there’s a bad flu scare or something like the Ebola cases in 2014 happens. This pandemic will be remembered not for the virus but for the massive and permanent social changes it brought to the west.

Sebb767 5y ago
Also: Home office, redistribution of wealth, climate impact and not to forget the financial impact. Plus possible long covid problems in a large share of people. There's a lot we will 'enjoy' for a long time.
kelnos 5y ago
If people, post-pandemic, would (voluntarily) mask up and distance when they're not feeling well, I think it would reduce flu and common-cold transmission quite a lot throughout the year. This sort of thing is already common in some places and I'd be thrilled if it became a thing in the US. (But agree that knee-jerk mandatory restrictions would be a terrible outcome.)
- dimitrios1 5y ago
  But at what cost -- is the question I have, and too few are asking. The young, healthy working aged adults are the "front line" against many dangerous viruses and bacteria. What happens when you remove the natural herd immunity? (Wasn't it something like 40-45% of the US was already naturally immune against COVID when the lockdowns first started happening?) My guess is if we switch to pure defense, when the next big novel virus comes along, it will wipe out a whole lot more of us.
  - kelnos 5y ago
    Look at east and southeast Asia. They mask up all the time when they're not feeling well. Are common colds and other things much worse there? I don't think so. Your worry here seems to be hypothetical and not based on any reasonable epidemiological theory.
    - dimitrios1 5y ago
      My worry is based on the concerns of the top professors of epidemiology at Oxford, and Stanford School of medicine. > Are common colds and other things much worse there? I don't think so. I would love to investigate this further, considering the latest 3 deadly strains of H1N1, and SARS have come from here. But given that we don't have any reliable data (data we can trust), it's hard to tell what actually is going on there. We are only told what we want to be told by an authoritarian regime.

anonfornoreason 5y ago

Just imagine what a whole generation of kids will grow up to be like as a result of the social changes that have played out directly due to the pandemic. Definitely a large inflection point. Maybe the changes will be subtler but I would be shocked if we didn’t have noticeable, analyzable changes to the course of history based off that alone.