3 ms·

I think in a weird way COVID 19 fell into a strange area of lethality. For those looking at population data, it was horrific, but on a personal level the worst

I think in a weird way COVID 19 fell into a strange area of lethality. For those looking at population data, it was horrific, but on a personal level the worst outcomes were rare enough that many people could avoid encountering any deaths or even severe illness in their inner circles. This made it rather easy to be an antivaxer, since people could just put their heads in the sand and remain blissfully ignorant of the scope of the disease. The deaths were just statistics, as were the benefits of vaccination. I think in a more severe pandemic, where more people would be losing friends or loved ones, they wouldn't have the luxury of this ignorance and they would be lining up to get a vaccine.

Traubenfuchs 4y ago
Many young and healthy people still don‘t know anyone personally who died due to covid, nor anyone claiming to have long covid. Covid was never dangerous to <50/60 year olds.
- jacquesm 4y ago
  > Covid was never dangerous to <50/60 year olds. In the US alone you're talking about 75K people dead under 50. And over 50 the numbers rise rapidly.
  - Karsteski 4y ago
    Can't really do much with absolute numbers, they must be per capita and compared to other ailments
    - maxerickson 4y ago
      The absolute numbers are actually a pretty good rebuttal to a comment that says "never". If you want to talk about it as a rate that's fine, but the pre-vaccine risk of dying from covid for a healthy person in their 40s or 50s was probably comparable to their lifetime risk of dying in a vehicular collision, it's not a small thing.
jacquesm 4y ago
Yes, that's very true. But that is also a super dangerous conclusion, that means that effectively until the dead are quite literally piling up in the streets that people will be happy to pretend it isn't real. This ability to deny something as long as it doesn't affect you personally is likely a very handy trait at some times but during pandemics it is going to lead to major trouble.
- goatlover 4y ago
  Or people were managing their own risks. I got vaxxed and followed mandates while they were in place, but as soon as my area relaxed things, I went back to life as normal, as did a majority of people. But I knew and interacted with people who didn’t mask and didn’t get vaccinated, and while I disagree with their risk assessment, I didn’t treat them as outcasts or murderers, nor did I advocate for them to be banned from the public sphere. Fortunately, I live somewhere that is more balanced in their approach, and just had mandates and lockdown to curb earlier waves prior to the vaccines. Which suits my risk assessment and most people where I live. The ones who complain tend to be rather politically motivated to the left, but most of them stopped following recommendations after a while. I think back to the big controversies over athletes like Kyrie Irving and Novak Djokovic, and I never understood how they were a risk warranting that kind of response. That’s where the anti-anti-vaxxers look authoritarian.
jboy55 4y ago
This is just my story, but I had a situation where a close friend's mother died from COVID. Someone else from the social circle, who knew that person well but was antivax, their first response to hearing them pass from COVID was, "but she had diabetes right? And wasn't she overweight? So it wasn't just COVID?". So it didn't matter if people lost friends or loved ones, the political war has casualties in their minds.

Traubenfuchs 4y ago

Many young and healthy people still don‘t know anyone personally who died due to covid, nor anyone claiming to have long covid. Covid was never dangerous to <50/60 year olds.

jacquesm 4y ago
> Covid was never dangerous to <50/60 year olds. In the US alone you're talking about 75K people dead under 50. And over 50 the numbers rise rapidly.
- Karsteski 4y ago
  Can't really do much with absolute numbers, they must be per capita and compared to other ailments
  - maxerickson 4y ago
    The absolute numbers are actually a pretty good rebuttal to a comment that says "never". If you want to talk about it as a rate that's fine, but the pre-vaccine risk of dying from covid for a healthy person in their 40s or 50s was probably comparable to their lifetime risk of dying in a vehicular collision, it's not a small thing.

jacquesm 4y ago

Yes, that's very true. But that is also a super dangerous conclusion, that means that effectively until the dead are quite literally piling up in the streets that people will be happy to pretend it isn't real. This ability to deny something as long as it doesn't affect you personally is likely a very handy trait at some times but during pandemics it is going to lead to major trouble.

goatlover 4y ago
Or people were managing their own risks. I got vaxxed and followed mandates while they were in place, but as soon as my area relaxed things, I went back to life as normal, as did a majority of people. But I knew and interacted with people who didn’t mask and didn’t get vaccinated, and while I disagree with their risk assessment, I didn’t treat them as outcasts or murderers, nor did I advocate for them to be banned from the public sphere. Fortunately, I live somewhere that is more balanced in their approach, and just had mandates and lockdown to curb earlier waves prior to the vaccines. Which suits my risk assessment and most people where I live. The ones who complain tend to be rather politically motivated to the left, but most of them stopped following recommendations after a while. I think back to the big controversies over athletes like Kyrie Irving and Novak Djokovic, and I never understood how they were a risk warranting that kind of response. That’s where the anti-anti-vaxxers look authoritarian.

jboy55 4y ago

This is just my story, but I had a situation where a close friend's mother died from COVID. Someone else from the social circle, who knew that person well but was antivax, their first response to hearing them pass from COVID was, "but she had diabetes right? And wasn't she overweight? So it wasn't just COVID?". So it didn't matter if people lost friends or loved ones, the political war has casualties in their minds.