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>Why must a timeline be put on it? Because it has completely disrupted our society, and widespread vaccinations have reduced the <1% chance of non-elderly peop

>Why must a timeline be put on it? Because it has completely disrupted our society, and widespread vaccinations have reduced the <1% chance of non-elderly people dying to much lower than that. Many kids have lost more than a year of education. Suicide and depression rates are skyrocketing among people of all age groups. "15 days to flatten the curve" has morphed into, "we must wear masks and stay locked down forever even if it only saves 1 life". Many of us reject this safetyism. Life is inherently risky. The vast majority of non-elderly people face far more of a risk of injury and death from their daily commute than they do dying of covid. Everyone is free to make their own personal risk assessment and wear a mask and/or hide in their homes forever. The rest of us are going to accept covid as another one of the many risks we all face in life and move on and start living again.

Spivak 5y ago
Huh? The current situation in most places is be vaccinated or have a negative covid test to go to events with large crowds and wear a mask when indoors. Other than wearing a mask sometimes and showing my vaccine card at concerts life has gone completely back to normal. The problem with the "personal risk assessment" argument is that you wear masks to protect other people, not yourself. This is a decision that must be made collectively for or against.
- StanislavPetrov 5y ago
  >Huh? The current situation in most places is be vaccinated or have a negative covid test to go to events with large crowds and wear a mask when indoors. Other than wearing a mask sometimes and showing my vaccine card at concerts life has gone completely back to normal. Tell that to the tens of millions of children - including pre-schoolers - who are forced to wear masks all day, every day, which greatly inhibits their learning and social development. Further, the fact is that places with "mask" (gauze masks and face covers - not actual N95 masks) mandates have not shown to have lower covid transmission rates than places without such mandates. That's the reality of the situation no matter what the so-called experts say.
brandon272 5y ago
While this assessment focuses on the “personal risk” side of things (yes, we are all aware that most of us who have been vaccinated should expect nothing more than a bad cold if we end up getting infected with covid), where your assessment falls apart is that it doesn’t take into account public health. COVID continues to overwhelm healthcare system ICU capacity. It continues to result in an unsustainable level of death and disability among the massive portion of the population that remains unvaccinated. Where I live, and in other jurisdictions, public health authorities are telling citizens, “Hey, try to avoid getting into a car accident or having a heart attack because our ICU capacity is extremely limited” So long as these systems are not operating normally, society cannot function as it usually would. And we certainly can’t pretend covid is over because we have lost patience and exacerbate those problems further. Lastly, your assertion that suicides have increased due to COVID is false. [0][1] Why are you telling people that? [0] https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n834 https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n834 [1] https://sunnybrook.ca/media/item.asp?c=1&i=2306&f=covid-19-suicide-study https://sunnybrook.ca/media/item.asp?c=1&i=2306&f=covid-19-s...
- StanislavPetrov 5y ago
  >Lastly, your assertion that suicides have increased due to COVID is false. [0][1] >Why are you telling people that? Take it up with the CDC. >In August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the results of a nationwide survey conducted during the last week in June: More than 40 percent of those who responded reported symptoms of anxiety or depression or increased substance use, in addition to other struggles. And more than 10 percent said that they had seriously considered suicide in the past 30 days, compared with just over 4 percent who said the same thing in 2018 — and who were referring to suicidal ideation over the previous 12 months. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/21/magazine/will-the-pandemic-result-in-more-suicides.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/21/magazine/will-the-pandemi...
  - brandon272 5y ago
    That article says nothing about suicides increasing, which was your assertion. In fact, most data, including the data the CDC has available and the studies I referenced above, shows suicides are down, in some cases sharply. This willingness to spread falsehoods in order to bolster a political view really needs to end. Nevermind the irony of claiming that it's essential that everyone must stop "living in fear" immediately... which is then substantiated using inaccurate, fear-mongering claims of increased suicides and children experiencing learning and social development delays due to masks.

Spivak 5y ago

Huh? The current situation in most places is be vaccinated or have a negative covid test to go to events with large crowds and wear a mask when indoors. Other than wearing a mask sometimes and showing my vaccine card at concerts life has gone completely back to normal. The problem with the "personal risk assessment" argument is that you wear masks to protect other people, not yourself. This is a decision that must be made collectively for or against.

StanislavPetrov 5y ago
>Huh? The current situation in most places is be vaccinated or have a negative covid test to go to events with large crowds and wear a mask when indoors. Other than wearing a mask sometimes and showing my vaccine card at concerts life has gone completely back to normal. Tell that to the tens of millions of children - including pre-schoolers - who are forced to wear masks all day, every day, which greatly inhibits their learning and social development. Further, the fact is that places with "mask" (gauze masks and face covers - not actual N95 masks) mandates have not shown to have lower covid transmission rates than places without such mandates. That's the reality of the situation no matter what the so-called experts say.

brandon272 5y ago

While this assessment focuses on the “personal risk” side of things (yes, we are all aware that most of us who have been vaccinated should expect nothing more than a bad cold if we end up getting infected with covid), where your assessment falls apart is that it doesn’t take into account public health. COVID continues to overwhelm healthcare system ICU capacity. It continues to result in an unsustainable level of death and disability among the massive portion of the population that remains unvaccinated. Where I live, and in other jurisdictions, public health authorities are telling citizens, “Hey, try to avoid getting into a car accident or having a heart attack because our ICU capacity is extremely limited” So long as these systems are not operating normally, society cannot function as it usually would. And we certainly can’t pretend covid is over because we have lost patience and exacerbate those problems further. Lastly, your assertion that suicides have increased due to COVID is false. [0][1] Why are you telling people that? [0] https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n834 https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n834 [1] https://sunnybrook.ca/media/item.asp?c=1&i=2306&f=covid-19-suicide-study https://sunnybrook.ca/media/item.asp?c=1&i=2306&f=covid-19-s...

StanislavPetrov 5y ago
>Lastly, your assertion that suicides have increased due to COVID is false. [0][1] >Why are you telling people that? Take it up with the CDC. >In August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the results of a nationwide survey conducted during the last week in June: More than 40 percent of those who responded reported symptoms of anxiety or depression or increased substance use, in addition to other struggles. And more than 10 percent said that they had seriously considered suicide in the past 30 days, compared with just over 4 percent who said the same thing in 2018 — and who were referring to suicidal ideation over the previous 12 months. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/21/magazine/will-the-pandemic-result-in-more-suicides.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/21/magazine/will-the-pandemi...
- brandon272 5y ago
  That article says nothing about suicides increasing, which was your assertion. In fact, most data, including the data the CDC has available and the studies I referenced above, shows suicides are down, in some cases sharply. This willingness to spread falsehoods in order to bolster a political view really needs to end. Nevermind the irony of claiming that it's essential that everyone must stop "living in fear" immediately... which is then substantiated using inaccurate, fear-mongering claims of increased suicides and children experiencing learning and social development delays due to masks.