5 ms·

700000+ is also a lot

by aappleby 5y ago

hunterb123 5y ago
so by firing these people everywhere we're bringing those who died from covid back from the dead? cool.
- cratermoon 5y ago
  No, but we're helping protect the next quarter million.
  - hunterb123 5y ago
    Whatever helps you sleep at night. Those families still exist, they just don't have jobs now. They'll still go to the same grocery stores you go to, they'll still interact with the world. People will still die, vaccinated or not. Now we just have more unemployed people, wunderbar!
    - cratermoon 5y ago
      > they just don't have jobs now. The workers had a choice, though, get vaccinated or lose the job. It's not like the spouses and children who are now without a breadwinner because the employed parent was among the thousands of dead.
      - angelzen 5y ago
        The risk of covid death for a working age parent in 45-55 is about 1:1000. More interesting, the risk of covid death out of all deaths in said age group is 12.5%. Maybe adults have a right to decide for themselves whether a 12.5% increase in their death risk is worth whatever other considerents they might have? Can we please stop acting like covid is some sort of a guaranteed death sentence, even if older and unvaccinated?
        cratermoon 5y ago
        > their death risk Such a selfish answer. What about the risk to others around them if they carry it?
        nradov 5y ago
        Vaccinated people are also a risk to those around them. A lower risk, but still significant and with declining difference over time. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02689-y https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02689-y I encourage everyone to get vaccinated if they can. But in the long run everyone can expect to be exposed multiple times throughout their lives regardless of how many others are vaccinated. https://www.businessinsider.com/delta-variant-made-herd-immunity-not-possible-astrazeneca-developer-2021-8?r=US&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/delta-variant-made-herd-immu...
        cratermoon 5y ago
        It's a shame that so many people continue to be indifferent and dismissive while making excuses for selfishness. Had empathy and compassion prevailed over greed, we had a chance to eliminate the virus. The best punishment for those who brought us to this point would be their gradual realization of the horror and suffering and the role their excuses and incompetence played in this outcome.
        nradov 5y ago
        Since the virus has animal reservoirs, there was never any chance to eliminate it no matter what we did. The bats that presumably spread it to humans in the first place are still out there somewhere in China or Laos. Many other mammal species now carry the virus. From the time it first spread to humans it was always destined to become our fifth endemic coronavirus.
        cratermoon 5y ago
        I chose the word "eliminate" carefully. I did not say "eradicate", which is a different term. Epidemiologists distinguish between "elimination", which we could have accomplished had the initial response, by the previous American administration, not been so criminally negligent and incompetent, and "eradication", which is much more difficult. By contrast, we have eradicated smallpox. Thanks to vaccines and effective public health interventions (NPIs), the virus only exists in secure samples in a few BSL-4 labs.

700000+ is also a lot

hunterb123 5y ago

so by firing these people everywhere we're bringing those who died from covid back from the dead? cool.

cratermoon 5y ago
No, but we're helping protect the next quarter million.
- hunterb123 5y ago
  Whatever helps you sleep at night. Those families still exist, they just don't have jobs now. They'll still go to the same grocery stores you go to, they'll still interact with the world. People will still die, vaccinated or not. Now we just have more unemployed people, wunderbar!
  - cratermoon 5y ago
    > they just don't have jobs now. The workers had a choice, though, get vaccinated or lose the job. It's not like the spouses and children who are now without a breadwinner because the employed parent was among the thousands of dead.
    - angelzen 5y ago
      The risk of covid death for a working age parent in 45-55 is about 1:1000. More interesting, the risk of covid death out of all deaths in said age group is 12.5%. Maybe adults have a right to decide for themselves whether a 12.5% increase in their death risk is worth whatever other considerents they might have? Can we please stop acting like covid is some sort of a guaranteed death sentence, even if older and unvaccinated?
      - cratermoon 5y ago
        > their death risk Such a selfish answer. What about the risk to others around them if they carry it?
        nradov 5y ago
        Vaccinated people are also a risk to those around them. A lower risk, but still significant and with declining difference over time. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02689-y https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02689-y I encourage everyone to get vaccinated if they can. But in the long run everyone can expect to be exposed multiple times throughout their lives regardless of how many others are vaccinated. https://www.businessinsider.com/delta-variant-made-herd-immunity-not-possible-astrazeneca-developer-2021-8?r=US&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/delta-variant-made-herd-immu...
        cratermoon 5y ago
        It's a shame that so many people continue to be indifferent and dismissive while making excuses for selfishness. Had empathy and compassion prevailed over greed, we had a chance to eliminate the virus. The best punishment for those who brought us to this point would be their gradual realization of the horror and suffering and the role their excuses and incompetence played in this outcome.
        nradov 5y ago
        Since the virus has animal reservoirs, there was never any chance to eliminate it no matter what we did. The bats that presumably spread it to humans in the first place are still out there somewhere in China or Laos. Many other mammal species now carry the virus. From the time it first spread to humans it was always destined to become our fifth endemic coronavirus.
        cratermoon 5y ago
        I chose the word "eliminate" carefully. I did not say "eradicate", which is a different term. Epidemiologists distinguish between "elimination", which we could have accomplished had the initial response, by the previous American administration, not been so criminally negligent and incompetent, and "eradication", which is much more difficult. By contrast, we have eradicated smallpox. Thanks to vaccines and effective public health interventions (NPIs), the virus only exists in secure samples in a few BSL-4 labs.