3 ms·

What is more depressing was finding out that we simply don’t have simple, widely accepted and used standards for collecting and reporting data on infectious dis

What is more depressing was finding out that we simply don’t have simple, widely accepted and used standards for collecting and reporting data on infectious disease pandemics. The criteria and the metrics change from country to country and even from state to state or even by city in larger countries like the US, India and Brazil. You don’t even have a single, universally agreed upon criteria of what constitutes a death by COVID. And because of that some countries like Sweden probably over-counted deaths while lots of African countries probably under-counted them. It is all an unmitigated mess, compound by widely spread politicization and rent seeking behaviors. It will probably be decades of research before we know what actually happened those last two years.

monopoledance 5y ago
> What is more depressing... Is how nothing really improved in two fucking years. I am completely at loss how this winter is the same or worse than the last one - which itself was going down exactly like predicted a month into the pandemic... I am growing bitter, misanthropic and hateful.
- elzbardico 5y ago
  At this moment we are probably seeing second order effects were people that should survive the virus are instead dying because the known effects of chronic stress on immune competency. On the other side, I believe that as with masks, lots of people become complacent after vaccination, because they had no idea their efficiency would diminish over time. This false-safety make them more reckless. Making things mandatory, and manipulating people through fear instead of relying on personal responsibility and the natural instinct of self-preservation also made lots of people rebellious and distrustful, making mitigation behaviors an all-or-nothing affair among the population.
  - monopoledance 5y ago
    I disagree with this general sentiment. Nobody gets manipulated through fear. It's incompetent policies, which always try to maximize economic impact in certain sectors and re-electability in certain demographics... instead of clear and continuous leadership, risking prevention-paradox disapproval in the population. Lock-downs too late, too arbitrary; selective economic and social relief; corruption; ... Fucking "personal responsibility" and "freedom(tm)" are the worst ideas in a pandemic, where the way out is inherently a collective endeavor. That thinking is exactly why we can't have nice things, now. 80% are for mandatory vaccinations here - bring it! Bodily autonomy gets limited by far lower approval numbers all the time (see e.g. abortion).

monopoledance 5y ago

> What is more depressing... Is how nothing really improved in two fucking years. I am completely at loss how this winter is the same or worse than the last one - which itself was going down exactly like predicted a month into the pandemic... I am growing bitter, misanthropic and hateful.

elzbardico 5y ago
At this moment we are probably seeing second order effects were people that should survive the virus are instead dying because the known effects of chronic stress on immune competency. On the other side, I believe that as with masks, lots of people become complacent after vaccination, because they had no idea their efficiency would diminish over time. This false-safety make them more reckless. Making things mandatory, and manipulating people through fear instead of relying on personal responsibility and the natural instinct of self-preservation also made lots of people rebellious and distrustful, making mitigation behaviors an all-or-nothing affair among the population.
- monopoledance 5y ago
  I disagree with this general sentiment. Nobody gets manipulated through fear. It's incompetent policies, which always try to maximize economic impact in certain sectors and re-electability in certain demographics... instead of clear and continuous leadership, risking prevention-paradox disapproval in the population. Lock-downs too late, too arbitrary; selective economic and social relief; corruption; ... Fucking "personal responsibility" and "freedom(tm)" are the worst ideas in a pandemic, where the way out is inherently a collective endeavor. That thinking is exactly why we can't have nice things, now. 80% are for mandatory vaccinations here - bring it! Bodily autonomy gets limited by far lower approval numbers all the time (see e.g. abortion).