4 ms·

The problem is that the science became political when certain portions started advocating for things that weren't backed by science and had no fundamental groun

The problem is that the science became political when certain portions started advocating for things that weren't backed by science and had no fundamental groundwork of support. The six-foot rule literally came out of thin air.

mikeyouse 3y ago
Not really though, the 6-foot rule was based on probability of transmission at various distances for airborne/droplet viruses. Perhaps it's too conservative, but all of this is probability-based. It's mostly been validated as we did studies and metastudies throughout the pandemic -- likely could have been reduced to 3 feet as we learned more but a "6-foot rule" tends to result in maybe 4 or 5 feet distances so the initial guidance seems okay: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31142-9/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...
troyvit 3y ago
I think it's more accurate to say it came out of air slightly thickened by a virus that nobody really understood. All of us are sitting back three years later pontificating on how science overstepped its boundaries, politics used it as a club, and/or screwballs rose to prominence with (sometimes) baseless conspiracy theories[1]. Here in 2023 we're acting like people engaged in these acts mainly with negative intent. I think rather we were a society that was a afraid and didn't know what to do. We made a ton of mistakes and a bunch of silly decisions. A lot of them killed people. Some of them might have changed an election. Many of them also saved lives. [1] Like the lab leak theory. To me that concept has legs.
- tivert 3y ago
  >> All of us are sitting back three years later pontificating on how science overstepped its boundaries, politics used it as a club, and/or screwballs rose to prominence with (sometimes) baseless conspiracy theories[1]. Here in 2023 we're acting like people engaged in these acts mainly with negative intent. I think rather we were a society that was a afraid and didn't know what to do. "Science" wasted a lot of its credibility by allowing itself to be "used as a club" to imbue certain policy positions with unwarranted confidence. In hindsight, that was a pretty bad mistake. Now people literally use "I believe in science" to state allegiance to certain political positions, which is not good.
  - kcplate 3y ago
    This is spot on.

mikeyouse 3y ago

Not really though, the 6-foot rule was based on probability of transmission at various distances for airborne/droplet viruses. Perhaps it's too conservative, but all of this is probability-based. It's mostly been validated as we did studies and metastudies throughout the pandemic -- likely could have been reduced to 3 feet as we learned more but a "6-foot rule" tends to result in maybe 4 or 5 feet distances so the initial guidance seems okay: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31142-9/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...

troyvit 3y ago

I think it's more accurate to say it came out of air slightly thickened by a virus that nobody really understood. All of us are sitting back three years later pontificating on how science overstepped its boundaries, politics used it as a club, and/or screwballs rose to prominence with (sometimes) baseless conspiracy theories[1]. Here in 2023 we're acting like people engaged in these acts mainly with negative intent. I think rather we were a society that was a afraid and didn't know what to do. We made a ton of mistakes and a bunch of silly decisions. A lot of them killed people. Some of them might have changed an election. Many of them also saved lives. [1] Like the lab leak theory. To me that concept has legs.

tivert 3y ago
>> All of us are sitting back three years later pontificating on how science overstepped its boundaries, politics used it as a club, and/or screwballs rose to prominence with (sometimes) baseless conspiracy theories[1]. Here in 2023 we're acting like people engaged in these acts mainly with negative intent. I think rather we were a society that was a afraid and didn't know what to do. "Science" wasted a lot of its credibility by allowing itself to be "used as a club" to imbue certain policy positions with unwarranted confidence. In hindsight, that was a pretty bad mistake. Now people literally use "I believe in science" to state allegiance to certain political positions, which is not good.
- kcplate 3y ago
  This is spot on.