SDHornet wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 10:11 pm
AZGrizFan wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 11:40 am
Actually, it's exactly the opposite, and WB's post is 100% spot on. People are finally coming to the realization that the "panic" part of this whole thing was BS. They ARE making rational choices, after first making IRRATIONAL choices. Blame it on mixed and constantly changing messages, blame it on political games, blame it on whatever you want....but a 99.8% survival rate for ANYTHING means it's pretty fucking safe to be out there living your life. Personally, I'll take on that burden of an incremental risk of something "bad" happening and move along with my life. You wanna live in a bunker your whole life (because there's no end in sight, bro), be my guest. Not exactly sure what you're "waiting" for....complete elimination? 100% effective vaccine? But the answer's NEVER coming....this thing is with us in perpetuity...gonna have to get used to it and decide whether you want to...
Spot on. I'm in the "fuck it" camp. Some of it has to do with what WB posted earlier, but most of it has been about looking at those people dying here in CA and its 1)mostly in LA and SoCal counties, 2) most deaths are in the 65+ years old age group. No deaths in the under 18 years old group, and a small percentage in the 19-49 year old age group.
The infuriating things are policy decisions that go AGAINST the data trends in my items above(school shutdowns, restaurant shut downs, gym shutdowns, etc).
The most frustrating thing for me in all this as a data junkie is the complete lack of consensus on coding and other factors that make most of the data just about useless unless one is making very general trends. Just because there is "data" being collected does not make it good data. Throw in the deliberate misinformation by the media and politicians for their own gain and it goes from bad to worse.
And it is very readily apparent of the difference between those who make decisions that are based or partially based on emotions and those who don't.
AZ is right, reality is that this virus will be with us forever. There is no magic cure, a vaccine is only going to be partially effect (based on a number of reasons) and people will not stand for social distancing/masks indefinitely. At that point, which is rapidly coming to most areas of the U.S., what are politicians going to do? Some people have already decided that the spread of COVID is far down on their list of priorities based on their actions and others are reaching the same conclusion for different reasons. Hot spots are going to continue to happen, it is the nature of this epidemic and the same people are going to be affected as were back in the beginning, until a herd immunity happens. But even if/when that does happens, deaths are still gong to occur as this virus will not be eradicated.
Each area is going to have a choice, they are going to have to choose between Economy (and keeping the lives of their citizens moving forward) and keeping the at risk (who were at risk before COVID) safe. We are past the point in my opinion that there is a breakeven between the unknown risks of COVID being worse than what it actually is and the long term health effects that people will suffer from a reduced economy and restrictions that are in place (these are very well documented). These are not mutually exclusive goals but there will need to be a give and take.
Something that might help put things in more perspective. In 2017, per the CDC,
7,708 people died daily. Some were old age, some were accidents, some were senseless deaths, some were diseases, some were due to choices the individuals make. Using that same value puts 1,179,324 dead from the start of March to the end of July for 2020. Contrast that with COVID "deaths" of about 151k so far. The next question one can ask is how many of those deaths would have occurred if COVID wasn't present this year? I don't know the answer to that question but it is something that needs to be discussed, as it plays a direct correlation in how/why are we shutting down people's lives.
TL;DR - I am rapidly approaching the point that the "cure" for this disease is worse than the disease itself.
It's all about the ratings. This isn't a popularity contest.
