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Any sickness is deadly if you're not fit or have other medical issues.
Sure. If/when covid numbers get to flu-like numbers over a sustained period of time, I don't think many people would have an issue declaring it "over".
I don’t think we will ever get to zero cases or zero deaths and that’s not a goal either. The goal should be to control the outbreaks using reasonable restricts when needed to minimize the impacts on daily life. Declaring the pandemic over doesn’t get us anywhere closer to that, it just tells me that when those restrictions are needed again more people will refuse and say that we need to learn to ignore it.
Well
on the first paragraph!
Huh? Who said anything about being "afraid"?Well
As to paragraph two...Sure. We have a ways to go and uncertainty is a #####. But I'm not going to be afraid in the now if things that don't yet exist but only might.
That is how I interpret it when people say things like "The next thing could be even worse! So to prevent that we must remain vigilant." Where "vigilant" means afraid and easy to control/manipulate.
Even that is less offensive to me. It's at least acknowledgement of reality that there is actually something to be ignored. I don't know, this takes me back to early days of the pandemic where my brother was enraged by denialists and my response was "they can't hide the bodies." I couldn't have been more wrong. There's a segment who makes it a 24/7 mission to hide the bodies.
I'm not poking my nose in here for a fight. But a majority of the people that are "moving on" in this thread have done everything asked of them. Mask/boosters etc. I don't see this as the it's "a hoax" people still denying it
I will add that for me (and many people I talk to) that the "pandemic" precautions were needed at the beginning because much of this was unknown and it was all new. I think we have gotten to a place where the virus is known (affects, etc) and due to vaccines/time/etc the "pandemic" unknown is no longer there. So now it gets to the point where people should know what to do and if they choose not to it is now on them and mandating/closing down/etc should be moving to an end.
This comes across a bit paranoid-ish IMO. What I (and I believe most others) mean is more like this post:
The flu has been around for a very long time, so while there's variance from year to year, we can be reasonably confident that we aren't going to go from 40k to 400k deaths annually. If we did, I would hope we'd be willing to reassess the situation and re-institute some protocols. This is way too new to have as much confidence that we won't see a significant spike ever again, so IF we do I would also hope we'd be willing to reassess. That's all, nothing about easy to control or manipulate.
You are the 2nd person who did not understand the specific exchange I had. Just to be 100000% clear again, I actually am open to moving on sentiments. If you are not going out of your way 5 times a day to use the words "it's over" then I'm not talking about you.
This mentality is frustrating to me. It completely dismisses long Covid which is not a minor issue and affects a very large percentage of Covid cases.
And what is anybody supposed to do about that now? What’s done is done. Moving forward, get vaccinated and live healthy.
If you're worried bout long covid, you should continue to socially distance and wear a high-quality mask. I can infuse my aftershave with SARS-CoV-2 and it won't affect you in the slightest.
To better summarize my thoughts...
"Everyone else, including their kids, should be forced to do exactly as I say so that I can be marginally safer."
I can't breathe on you and give you heart disease or cancer, if I could we probably would have some measures in place to reduce the risk (like, say, indoor smoking bans).
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Why? Because I've not got my head in the sand regarding a virus that's already mutated significantly twice?
You completely miss the point. It's not about forcing anyone to do anything. It's about people of their own free will doing the right thing. Americans have evolved into largely spoiled, selfish, me first beings. The WWII generation for example sacrificed many things for the greater good. Nowadays wearing a simple mask is violating your human rights.
and this is happening all because it became a political issue instead of a health issue from the get go.
You're wanting to boost toddlers every month? I don't even think Pfizer would recommend that.
Didn't know toddlers were 5 years old now. Nor did I see where anybody would need a monthly booster.
Children?
Yes. And I think Pfizer is the only one approved for 5-11 and it's only 12% effective after one month. That likely puts the breaks on getting children vaccinated any time soon.
A booster one month later? Why not just hook them up to an IV drip to goto school in.
If you're talking about wearing a mask of your free will, great. Go for it. No objections on my end, obviously.
Not sure why this concept is so difficult for otherwise thoughtful, intelligent people. Rather than accusing others of misinformation, pedantry or hysterical fear, it may be helpful to reread @Doug B’s post:
Nine months ago our numbers were much, much better. We had vaccines then. Monoclonal antibodies too. We also had mask mandates and other restrictions.
Calling it just a bad cold is pretty freaking disrespectful to the million-ish Americans who have died and the families left to mourn them and the countless sufferers of chronic illness left in it's wake.
Estimated actual case counts are magnitudes higher than confirmed cases. Even there your numbers look low.
Nobody is stopping you from staying on topic.
